Things Change Pt I
by Fancy.Cricket97
Summary: Three years later, people have changed, growing together and falling apart. This is mainly a CarriexGumball story and my first, supposedly flaming is bad, so if you could not do that... However I'll happily take your reviews, comments and critiques. Rated T for inappropriate language and suggestive situations, but nothing that will scar children, promise.
1. Chapter 1

**I forgot this part... Disclaimer: I don't own... Anything really in this fic, I don't own Gumball, I don't own Carrie, I don't even own Marmalade, it's all borrowed... So yeah, now I can't be sued hooray...**

Things Change

"Daddy?" The tiny child asked innocently enough. "What was Mommy's name before she married you?"

"Booregard." Her father answered simply as he flipped a pancake for his daughter's breakfast. "But it was always Carrie,"

"Daddy?" She asked again. "How did you and mommy fall in love?"

"That, my dear Marmalade is a long tale, full of details that aren't for little ghosts."

"But I'm not all ghost, I have your hair and I'm old enough to go to school." She said addressing her vibrant blue hair falling over one of her eyes.

"Touché… Okay, but I can't tell you every detail because your mother would totally hit me… I first fell in love with your mother on a morning a lot like this one… Queue ripple effect." He said and waved his hands with the transitioning screen.

"Stop breaking the forth wall!" Marmalade whined.

"Right... Any way, back to the story."

The sun shined through the half closed blinds into the Watterson household, right into the face on a particular blue cat, peacefully sleeping with his arm around his face and drool falling from his open moth. Next to him lie his goldfish and brother, who recently out grew his fish bowl and now slept in a fish aquarium, complete with bubble spewing chest. Gumball was now the age of fifteen, he grew slightly, though compared to some classmates he was still miniscule, and his muscles began to develop but he kept his hair well cut. Darwin had also grown, right into the envy of every guy of Elmore High school, though he wasn't the most buff, he had become a track star and his personality won the hearts of nearly every girl in school. Gumball and he had an episode of sorts after freshman year when Penny asked Darwin to a party, but they quickly recovered, like all brothers must do.

Gumball rolled over in his bed trying to pretend the sun wasn't there and covered his face with his pillow. Darwin on the other hand eagerly woke up with a smile on his face, which to be fair, was common, but this smile, and was rather mischievous. He stepped from his aquarium and leaned over his cat brother, right up to his sensitive ear and… "HEY GUMBALL!" He practically screeched. Gumball's eyes popped from his head as he fell from his bed, hitting his head on the floor. "Darwin! What the hell? It's Saturday!"

"I know, I just didn't want you to be late." Darwin mused with a clearly faked innocent looked. "I see your eyes moving to the side, what did you do?" Gumball asked becoming worried.

"You'll see!" And with that Darwin was out the door of their room and heading down the stairs. Gumball grumbled as he picked himself off the floor and found the black hoodie he'd taken a liking to and the jeans he wore yesterday before stumbling down the stairs. When he made it to the living room he found his father Richard on the couch with his usual, toothed, grin. In the past three years, Richard had attempted to lose weight, which technically he did, about thirty pounds, but he looked as plump and lovable as always. During Gumball's eighth grade year, he got a job selling used cars; he was by no means excellent at his job, but it kept him occupied and away from hazardous situations. "Hey Dad, what cha watching?" Gumball asked casually stopping to observe the television.

"I don't know, but Juan needs to get with Carlota now!" His Father said with teary eyes. "Juan! Sofia doesn't love you, why can't you see the love you and Carlota share!" Richard fell to his knees and began shaking the T.V. Gumball scooted past him until he reached the kitchen, Darwin had a waffle on his planet and there next to him sat his seven year old, genius of a sister, Anais. She retained her big eyes and overall adorable appearance, with the only noticeable difference is she wore more than one type of dress and it generally changed with the seasons. Behind the kitchen counter stood Gumball's mother, Nicole, who, ever since Richard began providing no longer had to be a workaholic mom, she still was, but she didn't necessarily need to be. Gumball suspiciously eyed Darwin as he passed him and Darwin retained his content smile as he ate.

"You two aren't fighting over girls again are you?" Anais said noticing the tension and no response came. She sighed to herself, then out of the blue a wooden block crashed against Darwin and Gumball's heads.

"Ow, Anais! Don't throw things at us." Gumball ordered.

"I wouldn't have to if you too weren't fighting again." Anais shrugged.

"We're not fighting, Darwin just did something and is refusing to tell me what." Gumball said sitting down with his cereal, still eyeing Darwin. "Well, I'll give you hint, it'll be here in forty minutes and you should totally shower, you stink." Darwin's hint left more questions in Gumball's mind than answers, but Gumball figured why the heck not, and headed for the shower.

Down on another side of town, a creepier side of town, stood the Booregard household and fifteen year-old Carrie floated down the stairs. At thirteen she was able to change her shape into the form of legs as she pleased and being tangible became easier and easier, food still eluded her, but Gumball managed to find her willing hosts every so often and offered himself up when he couldn't. She was better at keeping her cravings reasonable, but she wasn't perfect. Appearance wise, Carrie grew her hair out longer, it still hung over her left eye with a shiny new skull clip, clothes were something Carrie found herself enjoying more than she thought as well. She wore a T-shirt with a similar skull and a grey hoodie over that with ripped jeans and shoes she would doodle on in her spare time.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed her sister, Cierra was staring intensely at a thousand piece puzzle in front of her. "Hey." Carrie emotionlessly said standing over her sister. Cierra was jumped a bit at the sudden appearance but her surprise turned to joy and she bear hugged Carrie.

"I have wonderful news for you!" Cierra said in her usual energetic voice. Carrie pried Cierra off her. "And what would that be?" Carrie asked her one exposed eye raised in surprise.

"I got you a date!" Cierra cheered waving her arms and screaming with glee. Carrie placed her hand over her mouth to shush her.

"What?" She asked in a serious tone.

"Well, remember yesterday, when didn't come home? Well, I went into your room and found your phone."

"I was in detention…" Carrie said but Cierra didn't appear to

"Well, anyway, you left your phone here and I started texting that guy you always text, and one thing led to another and…"

"Wait, the guy I'm always texting? You mean Gumball, he was in detention with me!"

"Doesn't matter, you and him are going to the park in… Thirty minutes, go make yourself look pretty!" Cierra chimed and pushed Carrie back into her room. "Can I at least know where mom and dad are?" She called from inside her room.

"Doing parent stuff, now get to work, you don't want Gumball to think you're a slob." Cierra said one last time before floating away from the door. Behind the door, Carrie wanted to scream with anticipation, wearing the biggest smile she'd ever had.

Back at the Watterson house, Gumball removed himself from the bathroom, freshly cleaned and looking fluffier than ever. He peeked open the door, towel around his waist, and called out to Darwin.

"Can I least know what I should wear?" In an instant Darwin was at the door and pondering options in his head.

"Casual, but it has to have a certain essence of, I care about being here with you." Darwin said satisfied.

"What? With who? Darwin, tell me right now what's going on or I'll tell Rachael how much you liked that rubber ducky from Penny." Gumball threatened. Darwin's expression slowly went from confidence to sheet terror until he threw his arms in the air in defeat.

"Alright, I stole your phone when you went to detention and then you got a text from Carrie and you and her clearly have sexual tension so I thought I'd help get a date with her." Darwin fell to his knees and clasped his hands together. "Tell no one I love that ducky, damnit, I love you Sir Wettsworth!" Darwin proclaimed to the sky.

Gumball rolled his eyes at his gesture before his head clicked what he said. "You put me on a date with Carrie?"

"Yes! I mean seriously, do you guys not see that you hang out all the time? And she's been inside your body more times than I can count, and I can count to seventeen now." Darwin said proudly.

"Uh…" Was all Gumball could say before shutting the door on Darwin, with the door closed, Gumball performed a fist pump before breaking out into a small dance, until his towel dropped to remind him he wasn't wearing anything yet.

Darwin sat in front of the T.V. though he wasn't really paying attention to the show, he was too busy with all the conversations he was having on his phone with six different girls, all of whom wanted to hang out. Texting was incredibly difficult without fingers, but that was part of the fun, when the door bell rang. He cheerily stood from his sat and pranced to the door and swung it open. He was greeted by Cierra, which honestly surprised Darwin.

"Where's Carrie?" Darwin asked innocently.

"That all depends where Gumball is." Cierra responded.

"I'm here!" Gumball called coming up the stairs. He wore a silky black, hoodless jacket, with a fine white shirt underneath and neat blue jeans, but no shoes as usual. Darwin stoked his chin inspecting his brother and Cierra shortly joined the inspection. Gumball watched the two with the upmost confusion written on his face.

"I deem him worthy of my sister!" Cierra announced. "Carrie, show yourself," She waved her hand in front of the door only to have nothing happen. "Damnit Carrie, we talked about this!" Carrie came in seconds later holding her sides in laughter. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Cierra said, slightly annoyed at her joke. "Well, Gumball, what do think of our girl?" No response came from him and Darwin turned to Gumball who had his eyes glued to Carrie in sheer amazement.

Carrie had her pale white, delicate legs exposed from wearing a black miniskirt, black and red corset with black t-shirt underneath and black hand warmers that came to her elbow, finally, in place of her skull clip was a small black ribbon, Darwin forgot sometimes she was the school's only emo girl… Carrie began blushing at the sight of Gumball's wowed expression. "Gumball, you should stop staring at me now." She playfully said.

Gumball stood up straight out of embarrassment and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "He-he, you uh… You look good Carrie."

"I always do, but you don't look terrible yourself." Carrie smirked.

"I'll have you know this is the finest in junk yard clothing." Gumball countered with a similar look on his face.

"A model? Well, good thing I kept you around, finally someone I can mooch off of."

"Stop!" Darwin and Cierra said in unison. "Just, go to the park already." Darwin added.

"Is that where we're going?" Gumball asked.

"I can tell we're off to a good start." Carrie teased and led him to the door. After they had left, Cierra floated inside the Watterson house, unmoving. Darwin looked around unsure of what to make of her.

"Uh… Can I help you?" He tried being polite.

"Nope." Cierra said with a naïve grin and continued floating. Darwin slowly tiptoed away, back up the stairs. Richard entered with a tub of ice cream before he noticed the Cierra. His expression went blank and his nose slightly twitched.

"GHOST!" He screamed and bolted up stairs to set ghost traps. Nicole heard the scream from where she was in the house and gave a very tired sigh.

"Not again…" She moaned.


	2. Chapter 2

Gumball and Carrie walked together in silence, Gumball with a content smile and Carrie displaying her very rare and simple smile. It was a nice silence, like simply being with the other made everything that much better, words weren't needed. Gumball remembered his failed dates with Penny, always wondering how he messed up, what he did wrong, wondering why he wasn't perfect. It was his mother who taught him after one night of heart break, there is a difference between idolization and loving someone.

"Gumball?" Carrie spoke up and he casually turned to her as they walked. "Why the fuck are we going to the park?"

"I have no idea," Gumball shrugged. "Wanna see a movie?"

"God yes," Carrie admitted and they picked up their speed to reach the theater. She noticed Gumball was pulling ahead of her and sped up to be in front. To which Gumball took notice and picked up until he was in front of her. This continued until both were full on running to the theater, However due to the fact Carrie has no lungs, she finished first as Gumball caught his breath. Carrie stood with a victorious grin on her face as Gumball arrived. "I forgot Darwin was the runner in the family." She gloated. Gumball raised a figure to reply, but ultimately face planted on the ground, which in turn cause Carrie to giggle. She helped him up and he dusted himself off heading for the ticketing booth.

"Oh look, Larry sells tickets… I'm shocked." Gumball sarcastically remarked.

"It's his, part time, part time… part time part time, job." Carrie agreed. They approached the ticket booth and Larry seemed to flinch at the site of Gumball, this was met with odd expressions from both customers.

"Please don't do anything to get me fired!" Larry called still hiding his face and closing his eyes. Gumball grew a devious grin.

"I won't," He said confidently and Larry let his guard down. "As long as you pay for my ticket, popcorn and soda this time." Carrie and Gumball shared a high five without looking away from Larry.

"Fine, it's all on me, okay? Now just go inside and don't do anything stupid or thoughtless, now what movie did you want to see?" Larry asked. Gumball and Carrie intently stared at the current movies, on one side, there was a poster of some kind of romantic comedy. The other displayed a zombie devouring a woman's face.

"Tough call… Tough call…" Gumball mused stroking a nonexistent beard.

"Seriously?" Carrie asked.

"Of course not, two for the zombie thing"

"Kids, that movie is rated R, I can't just…" Larry tried to explain until Gumball cut him off.

"Let us in or I will file a sexual harassment file." Gumball declared and received a baffled look from Carrie. "Just role with it." He said from the corner of his mouth and Carrie shrugged.

"Fine, but if anybody asks, you're eighteen." Larry grumbled and printed the tickets. "Thank you come again." He added with faked enthusiasm. With a confident step, he opened the door for Carrie.

"My lady" He humorously said. Carrie rolled her eyes and used the door next to the one he opened. "You cheated." He said deflated.

"I never cheat, I just change the rules so it's funner."

"More fun," Gumball correct.

"Uh, I believe it's pronounced, fuck you." They shared another laugh and made their way the concessions stand, that oddly enough was also worked by Larry. Gumball gained a curious expression and opened his mouth to say something, but just let it go.

"Here are your free concessions, and by free I mean I paid for them, just, please don't get me fired, I need this fifth job."

"Okay Larry, jeeze, hey, where is everybody? This is a very quiet movie theatre…" Gumball said noticing the lack of people.

"It's ten in the morning, who the hell sees a movie at ten in the morning!" Larry snapped before realizing what he said and recomposing himself. "Sorry…"

"Awesome people," Carrie answered.

"Damn right," Gumball cheered and walked towards the theater that currently projected their movie. As they reached the door, Carrie stopped.

"Hey, what's up?" Gumball asked more caringly than his previous tone.

"I can't eat the popcorn…" She muttered.

"We could use Larry." Gumball suggested.

"Nah, he already is having a bad day…"

"I always have a room to rent for ghosts." He tried again.

"But I want to spend time with you, not inside you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Gumball mused trying to appear more macho than he was which caused Carrie to slightly brighten her mood. "What if… Well, your feeding frenzies don't take long to consume food right?"

"Not in small quantities…" Carrie embarrassedly said.

"Fantastic, you can pop right in, eat your bucket of popcorn and pop right out, easy peasy." Gumball smiled.

"You're sure?"

"You're my best friend Carrie, I trust you."

"Alright…" Carrie flew into Gumball's body and he felt his mind go blank.

Consciousness slowly returned to Gumball as he moved his hand across the warm sheets and… Warm sheets? He thought, he rolled onto his back and felt a plastic bag of some kind underneath him. Gumball shot up and opened his eyes, he didn't recognize the room, but there were junk food wrappers everywhere, and he felt like he put slightly more weight on than last time he was awake. He surveyed the room to a see a very depressed and ashamed Carrie with her face planted into her hand. "Carrie…?" Gumball groggily said. Carrie looked up from where she was sitting and quickly moved to Gumball's side. "What happened? Was the movie any good?"

"Gumball I'm so sorry… I had my popcorn and soda, but I was still hungry and then I had yours and then Larry delivered a new shipment of candy and I…" Carrie was talking a mile a minute until Gumball placed his finger on her lips.

"It's okay." He said with a smile exposing all his teeth. "Did Larry get fired?"

"No, thank god, but he was very upset at me… you… me in your body."

"Where am I?" Gumball asked looking around.

"My room… I know it's hard picture at the moment, but if you don't pay any mind to the stacks of chocolate wrappers, it kinda looks like that." Carrie said rubbing her arm awkwardly.

"Ah, I can see it now." He mused with a wave of his hand.

"I'm so sorry…" Carrie said again.

"It's cool… Why can't I move this leg?" Gumball said looking at his feet only to find a cast around one foot. "Ah!" He screamed.

"I kinda… Broke your leg…" Carrie said lowly again. She looked like she was at the point of tears. "God I suck at dates…" That caused Gumball to give a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, me too, truth be told, Darwin was the one who set me up on this…" And Carrie looked up with an intense amount of shock.

"Cierra was the one who… Set me up…" She said. "So… You didn't want to go on a date?" Carrie uneasily guessed.

"I… I actually really did, but I was mortified that, you still had a thing for Darwin…" Gumball confessed, red painting his cheeks.

"Darwin… The fish who kissed me at my Halloween party only to call me an emo freak the next day? Do know another Darwin?" Carrie playfully said.

"… Well, when you say it like that… Wait, did you want to go on the date?" It was Carrie's turn to deeply blush, Gumball had only seen her do that once in his life, or maybe he just didn't pay attention very well.

"Honestly, I did, but didn't expect much to happen, we hang out all the time, why would a date be any different… Of course, causing someone to gain twenty pounds and breaking their leg isn't my best foot forward…"

"I had fun." Gumball cheerily said from her bed.

"Oh, no you didn't that's just the morphine I gave you talking,"

"You have morphine, and some way to get a cast on my foot? Why do you have all these medical supplies?"

"Reasons…" Carrie awkwardly stoked the back of her neck and Gumball gave a disgruntled look. "I wanna be a doctor… And my mom let's me practice with this stuff since I don't ask for anything else..." She said lowly.

"Aw, Carrie that's fantastic."

"Morphine," She said again. "I'm going to get you something to drink, stay right there,"

"Yes… Because I'm very mobile right now," He joked moving his casted leg.

"How can you be so damned happy about this?!" Carrie snapped harsher than Gumball expected. "Don't you understand, I'm a bad friend and a horrible person, I've ruined your day, if not your month it seems every time we do anything together I fuck up your life and you still hang out with me for some unknown reason, Gumball, why the hell are we friends? A cat and a ghost? That doesn't even make any sense, I can't I be good for you." Carrie cursed out, if she'd been alive, she'd be panting with how fast she said all of it. She didn't look up until she felt the touch of another on her shoulder, she looked up to find that Gumball had waddled his way to her. He helped her to her feet and held her hand in his.

"I don't care Carrie, so maybe on paper we don't make sense, maybe we do stupid shit together and one of us gets hurt and by that I mean me. So neither of us is exactly perfect, but I love being with you, I love talking to you, I love that little smile you get every time something painful happens to Rachel, or when you just scare the crap out of Darwin. I don't hate you for your faults; in fact, they're my favorite parts about you." Gumball very thoughtfully and caringly said. Carrie was awestruck by him and was simply lost in the moment with him, until she did the only thing that came to mind. She grabbed him by his shirt collar and closed the distance between their lips in a kiss that made Gumball essentially melt into her.

When they broke apart, there was silence once again, the silence only two of the best of friends could really share. "So, what happens now?" Carrie asked.

"Well… Wanna schedule another date?" Gumball offered.

"That'd be awesome." Carried nodded still holding him close.

"But… First could you help me back into your bed? This is really painful…" Gumball said referring to his leg. Carrie's eyes widened when she remembered his injury and rushed him back to her bed.


	3. Chapter 3

The Watterson house was quiet, Nicole was gone for work related purposes, Richard was asleep in his bed, Darwin was gone with some girl or other. Only Anais sat in the house, throwing her own tea party with Daisy and several other dolls. It was about five in the afternoon, Gumball had been gone for seven hours… And Anais couldn't deny that she was slightly worried for her older brother. The door bell rang and Anais calmly walked down the steps to the door and pulled it open. At the door was Gumball, one leg in a cast, one hand with a crutch and the other wrapped around Carrie, who supported Gumball with one of her arms and affectionately held his chest with the other. Anais stared at the pair with a perplexed face. "We'll explain later." Gumball said, which was good enough for her as she let them in, and Carrie set Gumball down on the sofa.

"Comfortable?" Carrie asked above him.

"No, I'm missing my favorite ghost." Gumball whined. Anais looked at Carrie, confused again.

"I… Gave him a third dose of morphine… He'll be talking nonsense for awhile…"

"The parrot took my cheese grader!" Gumball called from the couch before falling asleep.

"Three doses of morphine doesn't sound safe for his health…" Anais questioned looking over her brother.

"It probably isn't… but he was in a lot of pain when we began walking here," Carrie admitted.

"What did you guys do for seven and a half hours?"

"Mind your own business…" Carrie practically growled. "Where's Cierra, wasn't she here awhile ago?"

"Oh… She was, but when my dad tried to turn the house into a ghost trap my mom said she had to leave, I think she said something about finding you."

"When did she leave?"

"I don't know, right around tea time I guess…"

"Forget it… I'll just call her." Carrie grumbled and pulled her cell phone from her pocket. "Seven missed calls?" She said out loud. "Shit…" She hit the redial on the phone to be greeted with a very worried mother on the other end.

"Carrie? Where are you? We've been driving around for hours…" Her mother said.

"I'm fine mom, I just got carried away with Gumball and…"

"You what?" Her Father's voice came from the phone.

"Not like that!" She yelled back. "Look, I'm at the Watterson's house and I'm fine."

"Okay, we'll come pick you up in a minute." Her mother said before hanging up. "Will he be fine here?" Carrie asked Anais.

"He should be… My mom will freak out though…"

"That's my fault," Carrie lowly admitted. "I'll just… go then."

"Bye Carrie." Anais happily waved. "I'll tell Gumball to call you when he wakes up."

"Thank you." Then Carrie flew through the door and the Watterson house was quiet again. Anais touched her brother's forehead and startled him awake.

"Carrie?" He said looking around the room until his eyes found his little sister. "Oh… Hey where did Carrie go?"

"She just left, what happened?"

"Awesome stuff," Was all Gumball said, leaving Anais a tad bit angry.

"Why won't either of you just tell what in the world you did together!" She yelled and Gumball raised his arms in defense.

"Because… I don't know, why would you care?"

"Gumball, you have a broken leg and I've never seen Carrie so calm, even after every time you bring her here. So something happened and it clearly changed both your lives." Anais explained.

"You could say that…" He muttered. "Alright, but you can't tell anyone until Carrie is ready to talk about it, okay?"

"Okay." Gumball then began to recount the night's events with more enthusiasm and hand gestures than Anais had ever seen him talk before, all leading up to when he and Carrie decided to start a relationship and she brought him home. "So, you're dating a ghost?"

"To sum up the past half hour of me talking, yes, I am dating a ghost." The door to their house opened and a frustrated Darwin walked in. Gumball turned to him from his spot on the couch. "Hey dude, what's eating you?"

"Don't want to talk about it." Gumball and Anais shared a quick glance before shrugging to respect his privacy. "Alright I'll tell you." Darwin added. "Penny admitted she still had feelings for you today and wouldn't shut up about you… Like she forgot we were supposed to be put-put golfing. At least Rachel was cool today, people who don't stop talking about their exes annoy me, then at the end of the night, she wants me to hook you up with her on Sunday, like that'll be hard, I don't even get a goodbye hug!" Darwin complained. "Oh, Gumball by the way, you're hanging out with Penny tomorrow."

"No I'm not." Gumball said sternly.

"What? But you love Penny." Darwin said confused.

"No I don't."

"Wait… how'd you break your leg? Did Carrie hypnotize you, can she do that?" Gumball played with the question for a second in his mind.

"She did, but not in the way you're thinking of." This just caused Darwin's nonexistent eyebrows to furrow.

"Uh… Alright Gumball, but you have to call Penny and tell her it's off." Gumball retained his bored expression and whipped out his phone and dialed in a number, it rang twice before Penny answered with a pleasant hello.

"Penny, I can't hang out tomorrow, I have plans." And with that he hung up. He didn't flinch, he didn't stutter, he didn't even have a voice crack. Darwin stared at him, completely flabbergasted. "Gumball, that was Penny, the girl you've loved since sixth grade, the one with the cute antlers; you know who I'm talking about, right?"

"The girl who took Tobias to homecoming because he is, quote unquote, 'hunky' that girl?" Gumball asked with growing frustration.

"He's also dating Carrie now." Anais blurted out which turned Gumball as pale as his girlfriend.

"What!" Darwin stood up from his chair. "You can't date Carrie, she's your best friend!"

"Why does that matter? Didn't you set me up on a date with her?" Gumball asked.

"Because you just don't do that, you have your friends, and then you have the girls you date, that's just how things work, like… I'd never date Penny, she's one of my closest friends."

"Uh-huh…" Gumball unenthusiastically said. Nicole arrived next, and nearly fainted at the sight of Gumball's sudden injury but he lied and said he'd already been to the doctor and just needs bed rest now.

Carrie sat in her car with what seemed to be an unmoving smile of pure joy. "Well, we're glad we found you." Mrs. Booregard said pleased to have her daughter back. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be gone all day…"

"Now you're apologizing for things? Who are you and where's my sister?" Cierra eyed Carrie closely. "My sister never smiles for that long…"

"Well, obviously something good happened to our little girl." Mr. Booregard commented from behind the wheel.

"Yeah… What happened Carrie, if that is your real name." Cierra said. Carrie slowly pushed her sister out of her personal space.

"Just some stuff, can we not talk about it now?" Carrie asked.

"Oh sure, whoever you are, we'll interrogate you later…" Cierra threatened. The car pulled up to the Booregard house and Carrie was the first to fly out of the door and into her house. Cierra followed shortly after her, the first she noticed was the house was near spotless, it had been cleaned and recently. "Cleaning, another thing Carrie doesn't do too often…" Cierra said to herself.

"Cierra? Could you help me find a picture frame?" Carrie called from her room.

"Tell me where Carrie is!" Cierra called back.

"For the love of… I'll tell you, if you help me find a goddamn picture frame." She called again.

Loretta and Benedict flew in soon afterwards to observe their daughters odd spectacle. "It's nice to see Carrie smile." Loretta chimed and Benedict simply nodded.

Cierra made it up to Carrie with a very intricate design of angels and demons. She floated through Carrie's door to find Carrie throwing the last of some chocolate wrappers away. "Carrie?" she asked. Carrie looked up from her task, rushed over to her sister and swiped the picture frame from her hands.

"That'll do," Carrie commented. "Thanks sis."She said and turned her back while she filled the frame with a mystery picture.

"I am not leaving this room until you tell me what the hell happened." Cierra stated stubbornly. Carrie heaved out a sigh and faced her sister.

"Alright but you can't tell anyone, got it?"

"Got it,"

"Gumball and I are together now." Carrie squealed with delight.

"Aw," Cierra said in understanding. "Well, I knew you liked him, but wow, I've never seen you this happy."

"I know I've never felt so… How did you know?"

"I'm your sister, I can tell when you like a guy…. Also I read your diary…" Cierra admitted and Carrie frowned.

"You realize if things didn't work out, I'd have to kill you." She said coldly.

"But everything did… For now, most High School relationships don't really work out." Cierra reminded her.

"I know… Frankly I'm still surprised he sees anything in me… But… Maybe…." Carrie shrugged. "I don't know what'll happen, but I'm going to stay optimistic."

"For the first time in your life." Cierra laughed.

"Well, there you go, I've answered your question, now get the hell out of my room!" Carrie ordered and Cierra complied still laughing. That night, Carrie slept better than she could ever recall, like for the first time, she had no doubts things would only get better.

The day was Sunday, nobody had bothered to move Gumball from his comfortable spot on the couch and he slept right through the morning of activity. Nicole didn't work on Sundays, at least, not anymore, so life at the Watterson house was complete and wholesome. Darwin was sitting at the dinner table patiently waiting for the special breakfast his mother was cooking with Anais' assistance. Richard was in the living room accommodating for any of Gumball's needs, no one in family was sure how Gumball broke his leg or where he got his cast, but apparently Carrie had already signed it for him.

Gumball felt his eyes flutter as he began to wake up, to the site of his Father's face, full of anticipation. "Dad?" Gumball managed to say.

"Hello Son!" He jauntily greeted. "Can I get you anything?"

"Uh… I have to go to the bathroom…" Gumball uneasily said.

"I'm on it!" Richard ran out of the living room, and Gumball heard the sound of breaking pipes as his father returned, toilet in hand. "Here you go." He stood proud of his accomplishment.

"Dad… I can't flush a broken toilet…" Gumball pointed out.

"Oh," Richard said and prepared himself to take off again.

"Dad! Why don't you just take me to the bathroom?" Gumball offered.

"Oh, good idea," And with Gumball in his arms he ran to the next available bathroom up stairs and he moved with surprising speed for a fat man. As Richard waited outside the bathroom for Gumball, the door bell rang. "I'll get it!" He excitedly cheered and ran back to the door, only to crash into the door and fall on his back. Carrie flew in through the door to see what made the crash.

"Mr. Watterson?" She asked concerned for him, until Nicole walked in the check on him.

"He'll be fine… Come in Carrie, Gumball just woke up, he's in the bathroom." Nicole explained with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, thanks Mrs. Watterson, how's Gumball's leg?"

"Fine, all things considered, don't let me forget to ask how he broke it… Or where he got the cast…" Carrie awkwardly smiled and looked everywhere but Mrs. Watterson's face.

Darwin tried to hide himself ever so slightly from Carrie's gaze, they were friends, but he never forgot how hurt she was when he insulted her. Honestly he didn't see what her problem was, if she dressed emo, and acted emo, and publically stated she was in fact emo, why did she get so butt hurt when he said it.

Anais put her spatula away and walked up to Carrie. "We're making family pancakes to celebrate Gumball's good health, want some?" She pleasantly asked.

"Oh, I'd love to, but I can't eat as a ghost…" Carrie shrugged. "They look very good though."

"Thanks, mom and I made them."

"What? No sarcastic remark? Did Gumball meet another ghost who just so happened to look exactly like Carrie?" Darwin criticized and then gasped in realization. "You must be Carrie's doppelganger!" Carrie gave an annoyed look Darwin's way and he hid again. "Sorry."

Then, a wobbled step could be heard at the top of the stairs. "Um… I could use some help…" Gumball said from the top of the steps and Carrie's expression immediately went from calm and kind to ecstatic and she seemed to glow at his presence. "Hey Carrie," He said with a bright smile. Nicole was impressed, she hadn't seen that spark in Gumball's eyes since he was a child.

"Need help?" Carrie asked.

"I don't know, breaking my other leg is sounds pretty tempting."

"Not to me it doesn't." She walked up the stairs and touched Gumball's shoulder, making him intangible and they floated down together. The entire Watterson family watched the spectacle with some amount of awe, the two said practically nothing to each other, but they just seem to understand everything. Darwin wore a sour expression at the site.

"How long have you two been dating? Like five minutes, max? Don't go pretending you're already in love." He grumbled angrily.

"Darwin, don't be so cruel." Nicole ordered. "Carrie, would you like to stay for breakfast?"

"I'd love to." She nodded. The table was set for six, and Carrie help the crippled Gumball into a seat and the family soon followed. Anais sat next to Carrie apparently fascinated with her new attitude.

"Are you gonna be like my sister?" She innocently asked that caused both her and Gumball to turn scarlet and awkwardly laugh. Nicole noticed their unease and moved to intervene.

"So Carrie, what do you have on your pancakes?" She asked and Carrie looked even more uneasy.

"I can't eat without a body…" Carrie said again and Gumball coughed as if to remind her he was there. "Oh no, not a chance, not after last time," Then a pancake was slid right in front of Carrie, laced with chocolate chips, butter on top and coated in silky syrup. Carrie was entranced by the fluffy breakfast food and she poked it with a fork. Her mouth began to metaphorically water until Gumball put his hand on her shoulder.

"I trust you." He said again.

"Jesus Gumball you have to be the most optimistic person I know." She still had second thoughts, if she hurt Gumball again, she'd never forgive herself. "Alright, this pancake looks really good."

"I'll always be here when you need me." Gumball reassured.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Darwin called from across the table. Carrie took a deep breath, though technically she doesn't breathe, and flew in Gumball once again.

Unlike every other time such an event had taken place, Gumball didn't black out; he was perfectly cognitive. He looked around to see his entire family staring at him. "What's up guys?" He asked, but his voice sounded different, he could still hear his voice, but it was as if he spoke with Carrie's voice as well. "Whoa…" Was all he said and looked at his hand, it was still clearly blue, but also appeared to be transparent. The whole family stared at had just happened, Richard's jaw dropped to the table.

"Carrie, get out of my brother!" Darwin snapped and Carrie quickly came out of Gumball. Both were inhaling at an incredible rate, and looked terribly uncomfortable. "Damn, I'm out of breath…" She said between breaths until she realized what she said. "I'M OUT OF BREATH!" And she seemed to practically glow with joy. Carrie picked up the pancake and bit right through it. "I tasted it! And… I'm less hungry, but still hungry!" She turned to Gumball and lovingly hugged him around his neck.

The rest of the Watterson family held a small meeting. "Okay… What the just happened?" Nicole asked.

"Well, Carrie couldn't retain any food in her body because she had no stomach and was transparent, so when she went into Gumball and they shared a body for a short period of time, she must have taken a little bit of him with her, though the affects may not be permanent since this is a unique case that science can't really explain it, so if I had to guess, I'd say that as long as Carrie and Gumball are in a given vicinity of each other, it is possible they will actually share organs, or the other possibility of the Carrie has regained a small amount of her life essence and has regained use of her organs before she, or a prominent family member, died." Anais said all in one breath and left all of the family looking at her with a mixture of pride and shier confusion. "I mean… Lollipop!" Anais tried to cover her tracks as a genius.

Carrie and Gumball spent the rest of their Sunday together, their main activity was getting Carrie readjusted to being slightly more alive than she was. The five senses were easy enough to master once again, there were certain smells that Carrie simply could not bear however, such as Gumball's three week old dirty laundry which they both helped in washing it. By far the most tedious of lively pursuits that Carrie had to master was going to the bathroom. There was the suggestion to use diapers, but there are some lows no teenager should be put through, wearing a diaper being among them. But the night came all too quickly for the two and Carrie bid him farewell, until their next test as a couple came. School.

Gumball was lying in his bed, waiting for sleep but it simply wouldn't come, he couldn't tell if it was nerves or excitement, but sleep evaded him. Then, his phone buzzed from where it was charging and he lazily picked it up and looked at the small screen. There was a message from Carrie.

"Can't sleep…" It read.

"Ditto… Wanna start planning on how we'll get detention tomorrow?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

They both stopped keeping track of what time it was, minutes slowly turned to hours and neither really knew when they actually fell asleep, but tomorrow morning was going to be a bitch.


	4. Chapter 4

Gumball blinked his eyes open, he looked around, Darwin was still in his tank, sound asleep and the sky was only just now beginning to break. Gumball looked at his alarm clock read five thirty. "Well… That's thirty minutes before my usual wakeup call…" Gumball grumbled and dragged himself into the shower with a plastic bag covering his cast. By the time it was six and Darwin was beginning to wake up, Gumball was dressed in his casual jacket, jeans and shirt with some rock band on it. It was difficult to tell what was on your shirt when your father gets your close from a junk yard.

His mother was the next down, she seemed to always be in her Rainbow Corp. uniform so is wasn't a great surprise at how ready she was for work. "Gumball, you're up early."

"Yeah… I didn't sleep well…" Gumball answered placing his head on the table next to his cereal bowl.

"Aw…" She appeared sorry at first but quickly shook off the expression. "Well, tough it out, tell your siblings I love them, bye." And in a moment his mother was gone. Next was Anais, shortly followed by Darwin both looked considerably more rested than Gumball.

"You look like hell… Couldn't sleep?" Darwin asked to which Gumball just nodded without moving. "Well at least we have math first, you'll be able to sleep through that." Darwin said happily and again Gumball nodded. Finally their father entered the kitchen, dressed for his work.

"Ready to go kids?" He happily said and pointed towards the door. Richard dropped them off before driving off, Anais walked to the elementary school, Darwin and Gumball headed for their first class together, but the crutches made progress difficult. Gumball caught many stares while he hobbled through the hallways, nobody bothered to ask how it had occurred and he wanted it to stay that way. He reached his locker opening to find his math text book and closed it, revealing Masami floating angrily next to him.

"What?" Was all Gumball asked with a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Penny's mad at you." She threatened.

"It's not the first time… Won't be the last either." He shrugged and headed off to math class but Masami quickly followed.

"She doesn't want to talk to you."

"That's fine, she hasn't spoken to me since the beginning of the year."

"You might never be friends again. She was even thinking about trying to date you again." Masami continued to pester him.

"Good for her." Gumball said growing impatient with the cloud.

"Don't you care?" She asked as Gumball entered the math room.

"Nope," and he shut the door in her face. He took his seat and put his head on the desk to sleep, until the first bell snapped him back awake. There wasn't a ton of people to talk to in his math class, surprisingly enough. When Gumball tried in school it was really easy for him, Honors Algebra II didn't seem very difficult. Bobert walked in and took his seat next to Gumball. "Hey dude."

"Observation; your leg has been broken." Bobert said.

"Yeah," Gumball chuckled, "It was a fun weekend."

"You're definition of fun does not match my own." They continued their small conversation until a strange looking slime thing slinked into class.

"Hello class, Ms. Simian is not in today, so I'll be your sub," The slime ball introduced. "I'm Mr. Goop and Ms. Simian left a schedule for you all…" Gumball and Bobert watched the substitute unsuccessfully attempt to read the scratching Ms. Simian passed off as writing and coat the paper in his own slime. Eventually he simply tossed the paper in the trash can and looked around the class room. "Who wants to watch Flat Land?" And the class cheered, except Gumball, who wanted to, but was asleep on his desk at the moment.

With math over, and Gumball slightly more rested, the next two classes were simple enough, ceramics and gym, then came Chemistry, the only class he had with Carrie before lunch. He hadn't seen Carrie all day, and anticipation was the last thing he thought he'd feel for Chemistry class.

The Chemistry teacher wasn't that bad, maybe a bit on the scatter brain side of things, but she knew the material enough to teach it. Gumball hobbled in and took his seat, the assigned seats kept him a classroom apart from Carrie, but it nice to know she was near. "Alright class." The teacher, who resembled a frog made out of what looked like yarn. "Today we are going to learn how hydrogen can blow up and egg shell." She stuck a nuzzled tube into an egg and let the hydrogen fill and when that was done, nothing happened. The class looked around suspiciously until out of nowhere the egg burst into shell fragments. "Now, find your lab partner and…"

"Ms. Rana?" Carrie raiser her hand, "Can I use the restroom?" And the whole class began to laugh at the question before Ms. Rana quieted them.

"Carrie, I thought ghost didn't need to use the bathroom." Ms. Rana pointed out. Carrie looked around the room trying to find an explanation but found none.

"Please?" She tried. Ms. Rana shrugged and pointed to the door.

"Be back in five minutes."

"Thank you!" She said running out the door.

"Whose Carrie's lab partner?" Ms. Rana asked and Gumball slowly raised his hand. "Gumball take notes for her." When Carrie returned she didn't look at anyone, just floated next to Gumball with her tail, he hadn't seen her without legs since junior high and never had he seen her so terrified of everyone.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"I… Didn't make it…" She murmured and Gumball widened his eyes.

"Where are your pants?"

"In the dumpster…" Carrie admitted, she could feel people staring at her and she started turning red from embarrassment. Class ended soon enough and the horde of students that made up Elmore high poured out of thier classed for lunch. As they walked together, Banana Joe approached Carrie and Gumball.

"Hey Carrie, where are your legs? Where did you go? You didn't seriously have to go to the bathroom did you?"

"Yes Joe, I did."

"But now you don't have legs and then you wouldn't have to…" Suddenly Joe's light bulb went off. "You pissed yourself didn't you?" Gumball furiously picked Joe up.

"Not a god damned word, got it?"

"Hey… You know me, I keep everyone's secrets." He said uneasily laughing and Gumball let him go. Lunch was essentially lunch and recess, it was an hour long, so most upperclassman went home or to some fast food joint. The lower classman were stuck at school and enjoyed their free time. During freshman year, everyone found their 'tables' where they sat everyday with people they put up with. However when most of the school would rather sit with your brother than you, it's easy to feel out casted, so Gumball had his own spot. Behind the school, was a patch of grass underneath a pear tree that was possibly the coziest place to eat lunch and it was close enough to hear the bell when class was to begin again.

Gumball and Carrie were lying under said tree, they always did for lunch, only now, they simply sat closer to one another. "Alright this is bitter." Gumball said holding a piece of candy, "Personally, I hate the taste, but someone has to." Carrie took the candy from his hand and put it on her tongue. She chewed it once, then twice and then began shaking her head and spat the candy out.

"That's gross!" She yelled and Gumball began laughing.

"Yeah well, here's my personal favorite, sour." He held another piece of candy.

"Hey." A voice said from behind them. It was Darwin with the peppy, innocent expression that hadn't been seen in him for some time.

"Hey dude" Gumball said.

"I just came to say…" Darwin began then until he giggled slightly. "I mean…" He laughed a little more until he was flat on the grass laughing his head off. Gumball and Carrie shared a glance before watching Darwin again. Eventually he stood up and wiped a tear from his eye. "I just wanted to say that, it's okay Carrie, I peed myself to when I was a baby."

Carrie practically froze as Darwin laughed himself to tears again and walked away. She sunk into Gumball's shoulder with a sullen look. "Carrie…?" She didn't respond. The poor girl… Then, inspiration hit him and he grew a clever smile.

"What? You think it's funny too?" Carrie asked her eyes watery.

"Not at all, however I have a brilliant plan to have this all blow over."

"I don't know whether to hug you or be very concerned… What is it?"

"Don't worry, if all goes well, you'll hear about it long before I have to tell you what it is."

Carrie carried on with the rest of her day after lunch, she hadn't seen Gumball nor heard of his plan, but on the upside, no one snickered when she entered a room and no one publically laughed at her. Whatever he did, she guessed it worked. Her final class was Literature, something Carrie was good at, being emo required poetry for whatever reason. She sat in the back of the class, half paying attention when the two in front of her began whispering.

"Did you hear what Gumball did?"

"Yeah, I heard he got detention for three hours after school."

"Why the hell did he do that? It's like he wanted to publicly embarrass himself… Poor Darwin, such an awesome dude has that guy as his brother."

"I know the poor bastard." Carrie poked one in the shoulder and he turned back.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Gumball thought it'd be hilarious if he took off his pants and ride a wheel chair through school, he's gotta be the biggest idiot in this entire school."

"Is… That all that you heard happened today?" Carrie uneasily asked again.

"Oh, Banana Joe was talking about some dude… and… he did something, something about piss I think… I don't know probably wasn't as dumb as Gumball…"

"I see…" She said and grew a small grin before raising her hand.

"Yes Carrie?" The teacher, who appeared to be a dragon lady called on her.

"Can I have detention?"

"What? Detention is only for those who deserve it and you have been a perfect student in my class so far in the year." Carrie looked around and picked up one of the kids that informed her of Gumball's deed. A bead of sweat fell from his head and he was terrified of Carrie's strength.

"I think this kid is a fucking hoe bag and he's adopted by parents who never loved him, and he's a shitty student." She announced deadpanned.

"Nice try Carrie, but the worst think I can do for harsh language is lunch detention."The teacher announced. Carrie turned her attention back to the boy in her hand with an evil grin.

The bell had rung and Gumball was sitting in detention once again, but for once, it was totally worth it. There's only one way to make high school students forget something embarrassing and that's something even more embarrassing, he hadn't heard anything about Carrie since Darwin's insults. Gumball wondered if he realized how much he hurt her, or if he even means to, Carrie seemed to be hurt the worse when Darwin said something cruel, maybe that first kiss meant more to her that he originally thought. Regardless, detention was his fate and it was quiet when no one else was around so Gumball began to draw. The door opened and closed, Gumball didn't bother to look up from his doodle with a piece of paper.

"What cha' drawing?"

"Angels…" Gumball answered.

"Huh… They look like ghosts."

"They're essentially the same thing Carrie." He said casually and looked up at his own recognition, "Carrie? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Do you honestly think they're the same?" She asked with a shy smile.

"Only in your case, Angel" He addressed her with the nickname and she blushed. "How did you get detention?" Carrie shrugged.

"I hit a kid in the face."

"Well, it's not your best work, but you got the job done,"

"Yes, my feat pales in comparison to the pants less wonder."

"Says the girl who currently has no feet." Carrie giggled and nodded looking back at her ghostly tail.

"Gumball, what you did… You didn't have to do that."

"Of course I did, a chance to help you and you get to see me in my boxers, it's a win, win situation!" Gumball happily cheered. It was only just now that Carrie noticed he was still missing his bottom half and showed off his boxers with fish skeletons dotted across them.

"Hot," She remarked.

"I don't suppose you'd share in my suffering." He suggestively asked.

"Well… I don't have any panties on and my shirt is staying on… so you're on your own, _this time_."

"That… is a lot more than I expected with that joke, but I am not complaining." They shared a laugh then Carrie grew a contemplative look.

"We're not… Doing this too quickly are we? I mean… I don't think we are…"

"People say that when they're uncomfortable, and if that's the case, we slow down, so I suppose my next question should, are you comfortable?"

"Well… I'm not, uncomfortable, but maybe we could… Just go do something after this?"

"How does dinner sound?"

"At my house?" Carrie offered.

"Does your family even eat dinner?"

"Oh crap… Uh… Wanna just stop by Joyful Burger?"

"Well, let's go," Gumball said hobbling into his crutches.

"Two problems, one, you have no pants, two, we still have detention…" As soon as Carrie said it, she looked around to find there was no teacher in the room. "Why the hell were you even staying in here?"

"I… Thought someone would show up… Eventually…" Gumball said looking around the room. "Right, I have gym shorts in my locker, let's go!" He cheered and began slowly hobbling on crutches. Carried sighed and flew ahead of him.

"Meet me by the doors, I'll find your shorts." She flew through the wall.

"Just make sure you hold your breath! I haven't washed that stuff since I put them in there."

"Who'd of thought having a sense of smell would have such a negative effect on my life." Gumball smiled and started headed out of the school, found a bench to set himself down on and leaned his head back. The air was nice, the day wasn't anything close to perfect, but it was a good day. Gumball mused to himself until his peace was broken.

"Gumball?" Someone asked from the side walk. He looked up from his bench to see Penny. "What are you doing here and where are your pants?"

"I sold them for crack, aren't you mad at me?"

"I could never stay mad at you." She said sitting next to him. "I was worried when I heard you broke your leg."

"That's nice." He said curtly.

"What's wrong with you? You're acting like an ass."

"Yep," He said still not paying much mind to her.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't know giving Tobias one shot with me would hurt you so badly, I didn't know, what did you want me to do, if it's any consolation, I know he's not the guy for me."

"I'm proud of you,"

"Damnit Gumball I'm trying really hard for you here!"

"Yeah? I tried hard too, I tried to make you happy and I tried to impress you and I tried to make myself good enough for you, for three fucking years, and I really thought you liked me too… But I was making you more than you were, I thought you were perfect, but I just couldn't see your flaws."

"So what? You think Carrie is perfect, because boy do I have news for you." Penny threatened.

"I know damn well she's not perfect, I also know I'm far from perfect, but she never stopped talking to me, she never left me all alone at lunch, she never tried to seduce my brother!"

"No, but she wants to, can't you see that she still has feelings for Darwin, she doesn't care about you at all, she's just using you to get closer to Darwin and you know what, it's not a bad plan."

"Bullshit!" Gumball cursed.

"Really? Then why don't you ask her?"

"I will," He said defiantly.

"Fine, but when she dumps your sorry ass for him, I won't be there for you." Penny stood and angrily walked passed him. Carrie became visible next to him with his shorts on her lap with sad eyes.

"How much did you hear?"

"Most of it, I was getting shorts, not running a marathon… Gumball I swear, Darwin has nothing to do with us." Carrie pleaded with him.

"I know," He glumly said. "She was just angry, I was surprised she didn't blame magic for my feelings for you… But it wouldn't hurt to be reminded," He said with a small grin.

"Sounds like a challenge." Carrie chimed and pulled him into another kiss, the kiss was much softer than their first, but it was comforting and Gumball loved her touch all the same. For a moment, time seemed to stop as cars drove by the school and it was a long moment before they broke apart. "Convinced?"

"Hm… For now," He smirked.

"Well, I guess I'll have to keep reminding you."

"I will totally hold you to that… Could you help me put my pants on?" He asked and Carrie rolled her eyes. She got on her (metaphorical) knees and began sliding Gumball's pants up when she noticed Gumball's attention to the side. She followed his gaze to see Rocky horrified at the site and slowly back away from the two. "Rocky," Gumball said calmly, "It's not what it looks like."

Rocky nodded, not really believing him before bursting into a full sprint away from them. "I didn't see anything!" He shouted as he ran.

"Still up for Joyful Burger?" Carrie asked.

"Hell yeah, I'm so hungry…" He said trying to stand up forgetting his leg. "Ah, when can I get this thing off…"

"Eight weeks, max, that's just how long it'll take for the bone to knit back together, you'll still have to recover lost muscle and all that jazz."

"Joy…" Gumball said sarcastically.

"Come on you big lug," She said supporting him on her side.

"Who says that anymore?"

"I do!" She proudly raised her other hand.


	5. Chapter 5

Their minutes together became hours, their hours became days, days to weeks until Softmore year went right into their Junior year and all the way to christmas. Their relationship was old news to everyone in school, not that students addressed them about, but they did take bets on when their love would fade and the relationship would end, but so far no one had been correct. The most significant thing would be Carrie's life, the more time she spent around her favorite blue cat, the easier it was it feel alive, like he was just connected with her and living.

"Christmas Break bitches!" Tobias called out running out the door followed by Banana Joe and a horde of others. Last to come out were Carrie and Gumball, hand in hand. She wore a black, pointed snow hat, tipped with a puffball, a black jacket with skulls for buttons, some plain jeans and, of course, her signature hair covering her left eye. Gumball adorned a simple brown jacket and yellow scarf and dark jeans.

"Wow… The snow is beautiful." Carrie said looking at the scenery.

"Would you call me cliché if…" Gumball began.

"Absolutely," She answered before he said it. "But then I'd thank you for the compliment."

"My mom makes some mean hot chocolate, if you have the time today." He offered.

"I don't know, have you met Anton's cousin? She's an actual mean cup of hot chocolate…"

"What if I promise it'll just be us?"

"I'm sold," She proclaimed and they headed for the Watterson house. The snow truly was a sight to behold, there was no wind, so it simply floated to the ground created a truly blissful atmosphere, with buildings coated in the white powder and snowmen could already be seen lining the street corners. Rocky was shoveling snow and waved to the two and life was pleasant. They entered Gumball's house and found a note from Darwin on the door. 'Spending the day with Rachael, see you at dinner, careful of the door.' It read.

"What does that mean?" Carrie asked reading over his shoulder.

"I have no idea," He pushed the door open and they both entered. "Ohhh….. I get it."

"What?" She asked, and Gumball pointed up with a smirk to the hanging fungus. "Like I'd complain about kissing you," She smiled as he pulled her towards him and passionately kissed her, she parted her lips for him, to which, he gladly accepted and entered is tongue in her mouth. They crashed against the wall and sunk down the wall keeping their tongues together until the door opened again.

"Gross!" Anais said from the opened door. She startled the couple and they quickly recomposed themselves. "Could you at least go to your room if you're gonna kiss?" Carrie and Gumball awkwardly looked at each other then back to Anais.

"That'd probably be worse than the living room…" Gumball finally said.

"Why?" Anais asked again and Carrie evilly smiled.

"Yeah Gumball, why would that be worse?"

"Well, it'd be worse for Anais, for me it'd the fantastic, probably for Carrie too,"

"Tempting…"

"Stop talking!" Anais screamed and ran into the kitchen.

"You're a bad sibling,"

"Yeah, probably, Anais where are mom and dad?" Gumball called to her.

"How should I know, I just got here."

"Well," He said turning back "It just so happens my room is empty if you wanna…"

"I was promised hot chocolate and I will not go do anything involving privacy until I get," Carrie asserted.

"Your wish is my command," He led her to the kitchen and set the hot water to boil. To pass the time, they curled up on the couch and watched whatever Christmas specials were playing.

Darwin pushed the door open to be greeted by the sound of a whistling kettle, he grew concerned and ran into the kitchen to find the kettle nearly about to burst until he shut it off. He looked around the kitchen to find no one there, and then headed into the living room. Gumball and Carrie were curled up together with the T.V. on and both sound asleep.

"Gumball…" He whispered and Gumball slightly stirred.

"What?" Was all he said.

"You almost burned down the house you idiot!" He yelled at the top of his gills sending both Carrie and Gumball off the couch. "If you're going to make hot chocolate, make it when you're awake."

"Sorry dude, I didn't think I was so tired."

"And the nutcracker was so boring," Carrie added.

"Whatever," Darwin threw his tiny arms in the air and stormed off, Gumball watched him go upstairs with concern painting his features.

"Maybe I should go talk to him…" Gumball said.

"No, I probably should… We need to talk anyway." He nodded in understanding, but that didn't necessarily mean he liked the idea of it. "Don't worry, you are, and always will be my favorite Watterson." She said kissing him on his nose and phasing through the ceiling into upstairs.

The door to Darwin and Gumball's room was half open, and she pushed it to reveal an angry Darwin on his phone, lying on Gumball's bed. "Darwin?" She softly called and he looked up for a brief moment before returning to his phone. "You haven't been the same since Gumball and I started dating, what's eating you?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because there was a point in my undead life when you were my best friend, I don't really have many friends and keeping the few I have is important." That seemed to keep his attention and he put his phone down.

"Alright, fine, what did you want to talk about?"

"Why have you been so mean to Gumball?"

"Somebody needs to, he has no idea how much that stupid pants thing back in fall embarrassed me, and…"

"I call bullshit," Carrie interjected and Darwin looked at her.

"Why?"

"Do you even remember what you and Gumball used to do? You guys went to Tina Rex's junkyard to get a toy back, you destroyed the city because you thought Harold was boring, you helped a bank robber because you thought he was for charity, among all the stupid shit you guys did, this is what concerns you?"

"Well… What the hell happened to you? You used to be deadpan, monotone and cool, now you're calm and shit, what happened to that Carrie?" Darwin accused and she shrugged.

"She found a reason to live, well… I'm dead, but you get the idea, people change, and you haven't changed for the better, now I'm asking, as your friend, what's wrong? Why can't the lovable Darwin I knew in middle school come back?"

"Because…" Darwin mumbled the rest of his sentence.

"I can't hear you," She said.

"I said… You picked him over me…"

"What?"

"I said-"

"No, I know what you said, I just need a little more, aren't you the one who set Gumball and me up on a date? Aren't you the one who asked Rachel to homecoming, didn't you just spend time with your girlfriend, right before you came here?"

"I thought… I don't fucking know what I thought… I'm a fish, I can't even remember what comes after the twenty… I know that I haven't been anywhere near as happy as I was when we still had a chance of having something, I need you Carrie."

"That's not true, you know that's not true,"

"It is true! Carrie," Darwin was breathing heavily at this point. "I love you."

"Darwin…" She said sympathetically, "No you don't, you just love the idea of me, the truth is we haven't had any real contact since freshman year, neither of us are the same."

"Just give me a chance, please,"

"And what would I tell Gumball? Darwin wants to see if we'd work out better, so beat it?"

"Not that exact wording, but he can handle it, he always does, you saw him after Penny left him, he was smiling and making a fool of himself like he always does." That statement seemed to irk Carrie a bit.

"Do you know what you did to Gumball? Do you know where he went for homecoming? He came to my house and proceeded to cry on my shoulder for the next thirty minutes, I've never seen him so broken, so hurt… You're his brother, didn't you notice in the slightest bit that he was sad? Darwin, the same thing Gumball did to Penny is what you're doing with me, idolizing me is not the same as loving me." Darwin was silent after that, he seemed to be considering everything he'd ever said or done before this.

"You're… you're right… I've been a bad brother and a worse friend, I was just… So mad that… I'm sorry Carrie."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to," She placed her hand on his shoulder with a tender smile and Darwin nodded, wiping his face clear. He walked outside their room and slinked down to where Gumball sat on the couch watching Rudolph.

"Why the hell do people care so much about a glowing nose…" He complained to the T.V. until Darwin sat next to him.

"Hey," Darwin said.

"Hey yourself," Gumball responded.

"I'm sorry…" Was all Darwin said and Gumball wasn't sure what he meant. "I'm sorry, I haven't been the brother you deserve, I stole your girlfriend, and cut ties with you so I could be cool and that was a douche move. I didn't see how much you and Carrie were hurt by me, or what I did, and I'm sorry." He said refusing to meet Gumball's eyes. Then, he felt a punch to his upper arm, he shot up to see a grinning Gumball throw a video game controller at him.

"It's cool dude, I'm just glad to finally have my brother back." Then Carrie appeared in between them on the couch and rested her head on Gumball's shoulder. "Ms. Miracle worker," Gumball addressed her and kissed her forehead.

"I try," She said contempt. "What are you guys playing?"

"Mega Zombie Killer," Darwin answered.

"Way to get into the holiday spirit guys," Carrie smirked and watched as a Zombie's head burst on the screen. It was late when Richard and Nicole drove up to their house, the lights were on in the living room but the rest of the house was dark.

"Richard, go check on the kids, I'll get the tree down from the car." Nicole ordered and her husband cheerfully saluted and ran to the door. Carefully opening it, he looked around the living room to find no real activity. The T.V. was on, but there was no signal but the lights were on… He peered around the couch to find Carrie and Gumball nestled together and Darwin resting next to them.

"Aw…" Richard said and silently exited the room back to his wife outside.

"How are they?" She asked, now with the tree off the car.

"They're just adorable, I don't want to wake them up, could we put the tree up tomorrow?"

"What if someone steals it?" When she asked it out loud, it didn't seem like a real possibility. "Yeah… Who'd steal a tree…?"

"Yay! Let's go, I'll check on Anais and you can see just how cute those three are."

"Three? Carrie's still here, what will her parents think…"

"I can drive her home."

"That's a good boy Richard," She said and patted him. He smiled with approval and went to see how the youngest Watterson was holding up. Nicole had to admit, the three teens sleeping on the couch was cute, it was like Gumball and Darwin were their young selves again. Something she desperately wanted to see again.

Richard came back down and gave a thumbs up for Anais, so Nicole nudged Gumball awake. He slowly stirred and Carrie followed but Darwin remained sound asleep. "Mom?" Gumball said tiredly.

"It's time for Carrie to go home."

"No," He said still in a daze and held Carrie close to him. "I need her here." He said childishly and the half asleep nuzzled her head back into Gumball's chest and seemed to fall asleep again.

"She can't stay here," His mother reasoned.

"Yes she can, I won't sleep with her I promise, I just want to sleep with her." At this point it was clear Gumball wasn't really awake enough to comprehend logic.

"I wanna sleep with you too," Carrie said from in his arms.

"Gumball!" His mother finally snapped and he became wide awake followed by Carrie and Darwin.

"What? Mom? When did you get here?" Gumball asked.

"That was our first few months together," An adult Gumball explained to his very anxious daughter. "Now, something really special happened on Christmas that year…" He trailed off when the door to their home swung open.

"Mommy!" Marmalade cheered and began floating towards the door and Gumball followed her to greet Carrie. As adults, Gumball and Carrie weren't incredibly different from when they were younger. Gumball was of course taller and retained his physique nicely, while Carrie was only a head shorter than him and she grew her hair out longer, but it would always cover her single eye. Marmalade wrapped herself around her mother's legs and halted her movements. Carrie let out a yelp only to be caught by Gumball.

"She's getting stronger by the day I swear…" Carrie said from his arms.

"It's nice to see you too Angel." Gumball laughed to himself.

"I missed you." She said and they shared a sweet kiss on the lips.

"Daddy was telling me about when you started dating." Marmalade called letting go of her mother's legs.

"Was he? How far did he get?"

"He stopped before Christmas." She answered.

"That's probably for the best, we'll tell you that part when you're older," Carrie said shrugging out of her lab coat and throwing her stethoscope on a nearby table. "Are we still going to your show?"

"I'd hope so, there are two seats with your names on them." Gumball smirked.

"Just try and keep your jokes acceptable for your daughter," And Gumball grew an uneasy expression. "I'm kidding I know you didn't get to be a famous comedian by being PG rated, but... Don't do the bit on…."

"Wasn't planning on it," He grinned, "In fact there's some new things I wanted to try tonight,"

"Alright, let me make myself look pretty," Carrie said and flew off to their room.

"You always do," Gumball called after her.

"Yeah I hear lab coats are all the rage in fashion circles." He left her alone after that.

"Daddy?" Marmalade asked again. "Can I have a hint about what happened on Christmas?"

"Well… Okay… But you have to swear not to breath a word to your mother."

"I promise," She said with her arms raised in the air as to show her figures weren't crossed.

"Alright, well, Mommy got pregnant with you that Christmas." Gumball whispered.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright.. I wanted to get this chapter on here before work, so yay! I finished in time, I thought I'd take this time to explain one or two things in this chapter and the last five... But nothing important so if you want to skip to the story... It's right down there. So in this chapter there is a 'set up' for a lemon scene, however I can't write lemons to save my life, if one of you guys wants to take the set up and go from there, feel free! Now, addressing previous chapters: Marmalade is owned by Jonathan-Elrod, but if you want to see a complete collection of fan-made kids, FilthyPhantom has you covered. I took Carrie's family from the Gumball Wiki... So I don't know who owns them but that's where I got their names, and I think Gumdrop is owned by CartoonDude95. Well, that's it, Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except for Grandpa Booregard... I'm moving up in the world... **

The sun rose on a Sunday morning, but not a soul moved inside the Watterson household, Gumball was still asleep but his wife had opened her eyes for the first time today. She didn't exactly want to wake up yet, so she stayed in bed, with her hand of her husband's chest letting his heart beat lull her back to sleep. Their house was simple, much like Gumball's house from childhood; they still lived in Elmore, though her in-laws lived across town. She curled back into Gumball's side before shutting her eyes again. The week itself had been hell, some idiot thought it'd be funny to swallow a tire iron and that was the easiest task the hospital gave her.

"Mom!" Came an ear shattering scream from upstairs.

"And…. There goes the moment…" Gumball whispered to Carrie and she rolled out of bed and headed for the door to their room. "Carrie!" He gasped.

"What?" She asked dazed.

"Did you forget last night when we… uh, well… you… You're not wearing any clothes…" He pointed and she inspected herself. Sure enough she was just in her underwear "Oh shit." She said and scrabbled for a robe.

"Mom!" The voice came again and Carrie tiredly walked to the stairs to find her twelve year-old Marmalade.

"Yes sweetie?"

"Gumdrop took my picture of me in the shower and now he's threatening to show it on the internet!" She snapped. Carrie just tilted her head as if she didn't hear what she said. "Tell him to give it back!"

"Huh… Gumdrop, why are you doing this?" Carrie called once again, not really knowing where her seven year old was.

"Because she wouldn't tell me how the story ended!" Gumdrop crawled from under the couch.

"What are talking about?" At this point it was painfully obvious to both her children, Carrie was in no real mood to do anything.

"Well… Marmalade was telling me a story and then said she didn't know the ending but she has to know, it's her story, so I needed a ransom against her." Gumdrop explained.

"Marmalade, just tell him how the story ended."

"I don't know how the story ends." She shrugged.

"This is the dumbest reason to quarrel ever…" Carrie said with her face in her hand. "Why not?"

"Dad never told me." Marmalade answered.

"Which story was it?"

"…. Just one of the stories Dad tells…"

"Marmalade Watterson you will tell me right now or so help me I'll put that picture on the internet."

"Dad made me promise not to tell it…"

"Well, you already told Gumdrop, might as well tell me it too." Carrie ordered and Marmalade took a breath.

"It was… your story…"

"My story?" Carrie asked more confused.

"You know, the story of you and Dad and how you got together, he never told me what happened after your junior year of high school, on Christmas…"

"Oh," Carrie said in sudden remembrance of the first time Marmalade had asked. "Gumball," Carrie called to him. He entered the living room a few seconds later with a tooth brush in his mouth and trying to button his pants. "Take Gumdrop to the arcade."

"Why?" He asked putting his belt on.

"I need to talk to Marmalade."

"Ah… Got it, come on Sport, let's see if you can beat uncle Darwin's high score." Gumball said putting a shirt on and walking out the door. Gumdrop shortly followed.

"But I wanna beat your high score!" The little cat whined.

"I am king of the Arcade to challenge my score is to challenge life itself!" Gumball humorously said in an imposing voice. Their voices stopped when Carrie shut the door behind them.

"Mom?" Marmalade asked growing confused at the situation.

"Alright, I going to tell you this once, for two reasons," Carrie said calmly. "One, so that you can avoid my mistake, and two, that you find a man that is, at the very least, half the man Gumball is." Marmalade wasn't entirely sure what she meant but didn't say anything. Carrie began twiddling the pendent on her necklace before starting her tale.

The snow was falling on Christmas Eve, Gumball was looking out the window with curiosity and amazement, for whatever reason, he thought the snow was incredible. He touched the necklace Carrie gave him earlier that day, her parents wanted her with her family on Christmas so the gift giving was already complete. She had given a symbol of Yang carved into a material Gumball didn't know and now she wore the Yin of the set. For her he procured tickets to a rock concert she'd been talking about for some time, he may have to spend the rest of break trying to pay his parents back, but to him, it was worth it. The day was coming to an end, but you couldn't tell by the thick clouds coating the sky, the sun never really seemed to come up.

"Gumball, if you don't go to sleep, Santa won't come!" Darwin whined to his brother.

"I'll be up in a minute dude," Gumball answered still staring at the snow.

"What? I'm going to our room, I'm sleeping right here," Darwin said and held a squirt gun close as he sat on the couch. "Santa may have forgotten Anais' Daisy collectable golden eyed doll, but he… Will… PAY!" Darwin cursed and cocked his squirt gun. Darwin then proceeded to fall on his side and he was out for the night.

"Okay…" Gumball said and let his brother sleep. He tip toed his way up the stairs and the noises of his sleeping family could be heard all across the house. He attempted to open the door silently, but it proceeded to make the biggest squeak he could've imagined. Luckily it didn't seem to wake anyone and he stepped though his door and carefully closed it behind him.

"Well… That was easy." He said proud of his ninja skills.

"It didn't look too hard." Someone said behind him and Gumball jump out of surprise.

"Carrie?" He whispered. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I thought… You spent so much money on your gift to me and I just made these…" she said addressing the necklaces.

"That's okay, I think yours is actually a bit better since you put time into it, I just got these online," He said with a warm grin.

"Well, I have another gift for you…" She said seductively and pulled her shirt off. Gumball's face went white as his girlfriend's skin at the sight of her topless.

"Carrie, I appreciate the thought but… This could affect our" Gumball was cut off when Carrie started kissing him and he simply stopped resisting. She pulled him back to his bed where she lied down and he climbed on top of her. "Are you sure?" He asked one more time and she eagerly nodded.

Their love making was quiet enough to keep the Family from entering the room and it lasted longer than both thought, but overall… It was the most magical night of both their lives. They were both panting and lying next to each other, contempt and in love. Carrie nestled into Gumball's chest and wrapped her hand around him. "I could get used to being here…" She said warmly and Gumball slid his arm under her to hold her that much closer.

"Merry Christmas Carrie," He whispered and kissed her cheek.

"Merry Christmas Gumball." She echoed and kissed him on the lips before they both fell asleep.

Nicole made her way down the stairs with a mug in hand. For once she didn't have bags under her eyes and the sun was shining as it rose through the window, she looked to the tree to see Richard had been successful in placing the presents under the tree and Darwin was sound asleep on the couch, with a now empty tank of ammunition for his water gun. She smiled before heading out to the shed where Richard was. He was desperately trying to remove the Santa suit he had on, but since it was now soaked, it was not the easiest of tasks. Nicole helped him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good work on the presents." She said before walking back to the house. When she entered, Anais was up and weighing presents on a homemade scale to determine its contents. "Anais, you have to wait until your brothers wake up." The little pink bunny stared at her mother and turned to Darwin. "No you can't wake them up."

"Fine…" She grumbled. Then Gumball came down the stairs, only wearing his boxers and looking simply exuberant. "Put some pants on!" Anais called.

"What?" He peered down as if he forgot he wasn't wearing anything. "Oh shit-" He said and sped back to his room. While he was away, Darwin began to blink once, then twice until he was fully awake.

"Santa!" He screamed and held his water gun close. "He came from the front door! I saw him… And he looked like dad"

"You were just dreaming Darwin," Nicole reassured him.

"Oh… I'll get him next year, don't worry Anais, I will avenge you!" He proclaimed to the sky.

"I don't even care anymore." Anais grumbled.

Gumball returned, fully clothed, and eagerly sat next to Darwin. "Alright when do we get to open these things?" He cheered. The morning was filled with shreds of wrapping paper and merriment, gifts were given, dreams came true and some were crushed but overall it was a successful Christmas, one Gumball would never forget. When the afternoon came, everything had come down a bit, the gifts were all opened and it was a relaxing evening with next to no snow, but the occasional cloud would pass through the sky.

"Mom, can I hang out with Carrie?" Gumball asked and Nicole looked over her shoulder to a sleeping Richard Darwin and Anais.

"Well… I guess there isn't much for you to do here… But I want you home by six, we still have dinner reservations at nine."

"Then why do I have to be home by six?"

"Do you want to hang out with Carrie or not?"

"Yes, kay bye thank you!" He quickly said and raced to the family car. It wasn't that long of a drive to Carrie's house and it was a nice opportunity to sing along to the radio, everyone does it, you know you do too. As he pulled up to Booregard house, he noticed an extra car there as opposed to the single car that they had for family purposes. "Huh… I guess Carrie got a car." He mused to himself and walked up to the front door. He raised his hand to knock when the door flung open and an angry Carrie marched out, followed by Cierra.

"Carrie, you know he means well, it's just… uncommon for a ghost to find anyone other than a ghost, that's all, besides Mom and Dad would never make you go." Cierra reasoned but Carrie kept went straight to Gumball's car and strapped herself in, locking Cierra out. "Carrie…" She said slightly deflated.

"What's up?" Gumball asked from behind her.

"Our Grandpa came to visit today… He and Carrie aren't on speaking terms, you better ask her about it."

"Will do, bye Cierra," Gumball said and entered the driver's side. He looked over to her expecting her to say something but she just kept her arms crossed and looked out the window.

"I don't want to talk about it…" She finally said.

"And, I wasn't planning on asking, you tell me things when your want to, however it is my duties to inform you, our plans of watching T.V. at your house are officially out the window."

"Let's just… Go to the mall or something, I just can't be here right now."

"Of course," He cheered and started the car off. "I'm willing to wait until you're ready, but just as a heads up, I'm super curious as to what the hell happened in there."

"Not now Gumball…" She said and kept looking forward. The silence that plagued them was odd, uncomfortable. Gumball wanted to be there for her, but he couldn't do much without knowing what is was that was going on, on the other hand, Carrie needs her space, that's just how she deals with situations. The car began to slow until Gumball stopped it, Carrie looked out the window to see their destination.

"School?" She asked eyeing Gumball.

"Yup, the mall is full of people and if there's anything I've taken away from this situation it's that you don't want to be around people, so I thought we'd go where we always do when shit hits the fan."

"Detention?" Carrie guessed.

"Well… Okay, where we go to eat lunch but that was a very good guess…" Gumball said and exited the car and Carrie shortly followed. He walked her to the tree they always sat under, there was a spot right under the tree where barely any snow had fallen, as if it was saving a spot for them. Gumball sat down with his back against the tree. Carrie stood above with what looked like amusement and disbelief.

"Seriously?" Was all she asked laughing in between her words.

"Dead serious." Gumball smiled and Carrie joined him on the ground. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"Okay, this is pretty nice." She said and closed her eyes. They sat there in comfortable silence a long while, it was peaceful, it seemed winter was their season because the snow was always perfect for them. Gumball had his arm around Carrie and calmly rubbed it. It was on odd feeling, holding a ghost, her tangible form was still something that impressed him, it was a lot like skin, but had a certain vibe, a flow that made touching her make him feel alive. He felt a vibration from her, like a beat, it was quick but it faded quickly. Then another came, and for all the times he held Carrie, he'd never felt that.

"Carrie?" He broke the silence and she made half an effort to look at him. "Do you have a heart?"

"Excuse me?" She asked insulted and Gumball quickly regretted the question.

"Not, uh… Not metaphorically, like, physically or biologically? I don't know… I feel a heart beat moving your skin."

"What?" Carrie asked with horror in her voice. "Uh… It's… It's probably nothing, we're still not sure how this whole… You and me sharing life thing works…" She said uneasily.

"Eh, okay, I never felt it before… damn I wish I was observant…"

"It's because you're too focused on my beauty." She taunted.

"Yeah probably, sorry for ruining the moment," Gumball sighed, Carrie smirked and turned his face to her own and kissed him.

"I think I can forgive you." She smiled and they returned to their comfortable nap. Carrie felt herself falling back into sleep when Gumball's cell phone went off. He pulled it out and inspected the I.D.

"It's Cierra." He said and handed the phone to her.

"Hello?" Carrie answered and listened for to her sister speak. "I told him no," She said and listened once again. "No, no, no, one thousand times no," Carrie seemed to be getting frustrated so Gumball put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and let out the breath she was holding. "Sis, I won't, maybe I said I would when I was younger… But things changed, I have a dream now, something I'm willing to die all over again for, I'm sorry, but the answer will always be no... I love you." She said sadly. It was the first time Gumball heard her say something nice about her sister. "What? Where am I supposed to go… Alright, I suppose so… Bye." She looked at Gumball, sadness practically written on her face. "I need a place to stay for tonight."

"What? But it's Christmas,"

"I know, but this is a serious matter and it's not going to blow over by tomorrow, please? I promise not to seduce you again…"

"I actually enjoyed you embracing your sexuality."

"The promise was more for your parents than you, but I'll make a mental note of that."

"Right, well, let's go I guess." Gumball shrugged and made a step towards the car but found Carrie holding his hand. "Did I forget something?" He asked nervously.

"Kinda, there's no need to hurry and, this tree has worked so hard to give us a nice scene." She said and wrapper her arms around the back of his neck.

"Well, I'd hate to disappoint the tree…"

"That's what I'm talking about." She smiled and brought her lips to meet his.


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's chapter 7, I accidentally had this set to complete... So sorry for leading you astray, I think I fixed it, but I'm entirely sure. Also I re read this story, dear god it's so much shorter than it was to write it, I thought 'oh this chapter took, four hours to write, it's gotta be long though, right?' Nope... So if anyone could offer someway to extend the content and keep it interesting I'd appreciate it. **

**Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Aside from the plot... **

"Why do you hate great grand dad?" Marmalade interrupted her mother. The question made Carrie hesitant as her eyes darted around the room.

"He… Didn't approve of my career choice…"

"But… Doctors are respectable, right?" Marmalade continued.

"Yes, absolutely, but not to ghosts… My grandfather had an old idea about life and death and how things were supposed to work out… He always said, people go when it's their time and I was 'messing with nature' by keeping people alive and screwing over my own kind."

"You weren't though,"

"No, at least my parents didn't think so, but my Dad loved my grandfather too much to disagree with him openly, and my mom… Mom was slightly terrified of him…"

"But what-"

"Marmalade, can I finish this? Gumball can only entertain Gumdrop for so long,"

"Oh… Please continue."

"Alright… Well Christmas blew over pretty quickly, my Grandfather left and my life was going back to normal, I mean, I thought it was, it actually couldn't have gotten further from normal."

The bell rang for school to start and students rushed in like crazy cattle with a few of them being actually cattle. Gumball and Darwin were sitting in their first class, History, making paper airplanes when Gumball noticed Carrie come in with an absolutely miserable look on her face.

"Hey Carrie," He called to her but got no response. "Carrie?" He asked again with still no luck and she floated right past him.

"Dude, you're fucked now!" Darwin whispered to him but Gumball kept his eyes on the pale ghost. "What did you do?"

"I… I don't know… You go talk to her for me,"

"What? No way, I just got to be Carrie's friend again, I'm not messing it up now."And that was those were the last words spoken all class.

If one had asked Gumball what his class did in History class today, he could not answer. The entirety of the class was spent reliving everything he and Carrie had done in the past few days and he couldn't find a single incident that would lead to him being completely ignored. When class ended, Carrie was first out, but he practically sprinted to her.

"Carrie!" He called only to trip over a stray brick in the middle of the hall way. Rubbing his face he picked it up with intense confusion. "Who the hell leaves a brick in the middle of the hallway!" He cursed at it. Suddenly the brick opened its eyes.

"I'll have you know I have a medical condition." The brick snidely said.

"That doesn't even make sense here!" He chucked the brick out of anger only to have it hit Tina in back. "Shit…" He muttered. The rest of the day went equally as horribly as it started, involving bad teachers, pop quizzes, radioactive looking food, and, the most painful part Carrie still did not speak a word. There was a little comfort in the fact that she didn't say anything to anyone either, but that wasn't unusual. The time when Gumball lost his luck came back into his mind, maybe all the luck he was having with Carrie was finally ending, but by tomorrow everything should balance out, or he'll end up in the hospital again…

Darwin found his bruised and saddened brother after school, looking like a train hit him. "Dude… Did you see the nurse?"

"No…" He said lowly. "Maybe I forgot an important date…"

"What like an anniversary? Darwin guessed.

"Maybe… I don't know, why do people usually stop talking to you?"

"Oh lots of reasons… Just give her time, she'll be fine." His brother smiled and nodded. So Gumball put all his hopes on tomorrow.

The rest of the day seemed to take forever, everything from the walk home to trying to go to bed, the whole world slowed down, just to infuriate Gumball. "Maybe I should text her…" He said in bed and Darwin opened one eye from his tank.

"Don't do it dude, she needs her space, you have to give it to her."

"But what if she's waiting for me to text her?"

"Don't do it, just go to sleep, everything will be fine tomorrow."

"Huh… I guess you're right."

The bell rang again on a Tuesday, once again children flooded to school and Gumball found himself in History next to Darwin. He began impatiently tapping his finger on his desk, awaiting Carrie's entrance. His eyes constantly moved from the clock to the door and back to the clock, two minutes left and still no Carrie. "You think she's okay?" Gumball asked.

"Dude, chill out, girls get mad for whatever reason, this will all blow over really soon, maybe she's sick," That didn't appear to aid in Gumball's hyper ventilation. "Okay, we're going to do this slowly," He ordered Gumball. "Breathe in," He said and Gumball followed the direction. "Breathe out, better?"

"Yeah… Alright let's history!"

"That's not an actual sentence…" Darwin pointed out.

"Don't ruin this for me."

By the time lunch came, it was clear Carrie was in attendance today, which is odd since he'd never seen her sick before. He went through the rest of the day with a fake smile and doing his best to pay attention to his studies which wasn't working out well when Ms. Simian noticed him absentmindedly playing with his pencil. She was preparing to render punishment went the end of the day bell rang and Gumball was gone in a matter of seconds. "So close…" She said disheartened.

He ran down the hall in front of everyone until he burst out the door and ran towards Carrie's house. "Damn… I think my record for the 200 just got broken…" Darwin mused as he watched his brother run. Gumball had decided to throw everything to the wind and try to talk to Carrie at her house. Her house came into to site and he told himself to stop, only to have his legs not respond as the door approached he raised his hands in defense.

Cierra was sitting quietly on the couch, waiting for her sister to finish in the bathroom when an enormous thump came from the door. She hurried to the door and quickly opened it. "Hi Gumball!" She asked as if he wasn't suffering from a small concussion at the moment and he cooly stood up and dusted himself off.

"I need to talk to Carrie." He said quickly.

"She doesn't want to talk to you…" Cierra answered looking away from him.

"Why?"

"I'm sorry Gumball, but she just can't right now," And Cierra began closing the door.

"Wait!" Gumball pleaded. "Cierra please, if something's wrong, couldn't Carrie and I just talk about it?"

"Not right now, go away." She said politely.

"Please!" But the door was closed and Gumball was left alone on the porch. "Well at least it can't…" As he was saying it, storm clouds began to form. "Ha! I see you there!" He called to the clouds and they seemed to scatter again. "Damn clouds… Always waiting for anyone to say 'it can't be any worse,' just to make it worse…" He cursed at the clouds and walked home and began talking to himself.

"Maybe her Grand dad did something… She never did tell me what her problem with him was… Maybe it has nothing to do with me," He tried to reassure himself. "But… then she'd be talking to me… Damnit what did I do…"

The week after proceeded to add upon a poor situation, Carrie was almost never at school and rumors surfaced that she would never come back. Gumball knew better… If she wanted to become a doctor she needed education, but the fact was, she wasn't at school anymore.

Gumball was sitting on the couch at home, technically, he was still with Carrie, but their lack of communication said otherwise. He was never hungry anymore, most food tasted bland and nothing really seemed worth doing. "I need a hobby," He said to himself just as his Father was unsuccessfully trying to sneak behind him. "Dad?"

"Oh… Hi son," His father greeted but kept scooting towards the door. "Don't mind me."

"Where are you going?"

"Just to a place where dads can be dads, it's a special place called a bar, but you can't come."

"I know what a bar is Dad, why are you going there?"

"Oh me and some other guys were going, it's open mike night, and some people are hilarious."

"Can I come?"

"No, I just said that, it's for grownups."

"Aw, come on, please?" Gumball said with adorable eyes and a tiny smile. Richard began sweating his ears off, he tried to look around but kept being drawn to Gumball until he gave up.

"Okay fine… But don't tell your mother."

"Yes sir!"

The bar was small, but comfortable, wooden chairs and booths, it reminded Gumball of a cabin but in the middle of the city. On stage was a strange creature doing a comedy routine and getting a moderate amount of attention. Richard met with Mr. Fitzgerald, some father he didn't recognize and at the end, Mr. Booregard, Gumball wanted to die right there.

"You know what Dad, you were right, this isn't a place for kids, and I'll just wait out in the car."

"Nonsense, you're already here, let's join them."

"I uh… I" Gumball began struggling for an excuse. "I want to try stand up!" He said without thinking.

"Oh… Well, go talk to the nice man behind the counter, he'll tell you what to do." Gumball sighed in relief. "Actually I'll come with you, just to make sure everything goes right."

"What? No you don't have to do that… I uh…" But it was too late and his father was already talking to the bartender. "Shit…" He muttered to himself.

"He says you'll go up after the guy after this one, good luck son!" Richard patted his son on the back and walked over to his friends.

"Okay… I can just leave, they won't miss me." Gumball thought. The creature currently on stage took a bow and was met with an empty bottled thrown at his head. He ducked and ran out of the bar in terror. "I'm so screwed…"

"Hey, cat guy," The bartender called. "The other guy quit, you wanna go up now?"

"I'm actually terrified at this point…"

"Yeah, so is everybody else, tell you what, you make these drunken idiots chuckle, I'll give you forty bucks."

"I'll give it a shot… any tips?"

"If you're not funny, you'll die, if you are, these guys are pretty slap happy, it's now or never kid." Gumball inhaled and walked to the stage. He'd been on stage before, the blinding light, the crowd looking at him, even his father, it wasn't totally new, but damn if it was intimidating. He felt his nerves tense up, doubt plagued his mind, bottles probably hurt when they collided with one's skull. He stepped onto the stage and took a hold of the mike and in that moment, it all felt so natural, to be standing there, and just begin talking. "I never understood why someone's race is a problem in society, well; I didn't until I saw a major flaw with having a T-Rex play monopoly with a sheep…" He began his joke. He was up for a solid hour, none of it was planned; it was all so easy to have the crowd on the floor balling. He saw his father and his companions laughing in a far off booth, even Mr. Booregard, which was a lot off Gumball's shoulders. "Alright, I'm Gumball, goodnight!" He closed and received a roaring applause as he stepped off stage and the bartender waved him over.

"That was fantastic!" He cheered and handed Gumball his promised money. "Could you come back next week?"

"Sure, why not." Gumball shrugged.

"Great, this bar might get some real attention now, too bad my waitresses missed you, you might have gotten one into bed." Gumball uneasily laughed and waved bye as he headed to his father's booth.

"Son, that was great!" Richard said and hugged his child. "Why didn't you tell me you were so funny?"

"Oh… I wanted to surprise you?" Gumball couldn't tell if he was making a joke.

"Gumball I haven't laughed like that since Halloween, well done." Mr. Booregard commented.

"Thank you," He said looking down. "Hey is Carrie sick?"

"Oh, I believe so… Which is odd, since I'm fairly certain she never has been before, she's been throwing up and eating really weird food, I mean, I know she only recently gained the ability to eat, but goodness, who eats hot dogs covered in jelly." Gumball was convinced that they were all slightly intoxicated.

"Let's get home Dad, I have school tomorrow." Gumball said pushing his father out the door. "It was nice to see you," He waved to Mr. Booregard. He placed his father in the passenger seat and buckled him in before driving home.

Gumball burst through the door, his passed out father in his arms as he struggled to move. "Gumball!" His mother said and raced over to help him with his father. "You didn't drink anything did you?"

"No," He said as the lifted Richard onto the couch. "I got this for you." And he pulled out the forty dollars.

"Where did you find that?" Nicole asked in shock.

"I earned it, telling jokes to drunks."

"You performed stand up?" She rephrased his sentence.

"Well, yes, but they it wasn't exactly hard, they weren't in perfect mental health…" Gumball trailed off.

"Keep it, you earned that money." His mother ordered.

"Really?"

"Really, just promise me that you'll keep your father from drinking with Mr. Fitzgerald, they always have a stupid competition and someone ends up unconscious." They both laughed quietly and then there was awkward silence.

"Mom?" Gumball asked, "Why would a girl stop talking to me?"

"I'm guessing you mean Carrie, since you don't talk to any other girls." His mother smirked and Gumball crossed his arms. "Well, girl's need time to figure things out."

"Yeah I heard that already, but why? Why can't I help or be part of the figuring out?"

"Oh, that is a question no one but Carrie can answer, I could guess, but that's all it'd be."

Another two weeks passed, Gumball had all but considered him and Carrie to be over. She showed up to school every now and again, but she still never talked to him. He still had no idea why, but everyone said to leave her alone, and so he did. He began writing jokes for himself to keep his mind off her, by the time he had another show; he had two hours of material. Any time someone even mentioned Carrie's name though, he grew disheartened and depressed. He missed her, but he did his best to hide it or simply not think about it and that's where comedy came in.

Gumball was coming off the stage after another successful show and made his way to Mike, the bartender, who oddly enough looked like a microphone himself. Except, he was talking to someone, the someone he would kill to talk to again. "Ah, Gumball, I'd like you to meet Carrie." Mike introduced.

"Yeah… We've met…" Gumball said refusing to look at her.

"Oh good, she'll be our new round the clock waitress,"

"What?" Gumball said with anger. "Carrie, what about school, you can't work here all day!" Once again, Carrie was silent and looked off to the side. Mike grew uncomfortable watching someone else's business and slid away to another customer. "Carrie, damnit, talk to me, this isn't what you want, why the hell do you want to work here"

"I don't need you to understand," She curtly said.

"But I do, I need to understand, because being without you is hell."

"Well suck it up! This is how it has to be."

"Why!" And again she was silent. "What the hell could be so important that you give up on your dreams?" Carrie began to walk away from him and he ran after her. "Carrie, tell me why," He said calming down.

"Just… Understand that this is for the best, just trust me, please."

"I do trust you, now trust me with the truth." He said and turned her to face him. He lifted her chin so she was looking in his eyes and saw Carrie's eyes were watery before she turned away from him.

"No," Was all she said and walked out the door. Leaving Gumball alone again, he wanted to be angry, hell, he wanted to be furious, but it wouldn't do him any good, Carrie was gone again and nothing would change that. He drove home in the rain with a blaring radio and was close to tears himself. 'Why would she be sad? She's screwing me over…' He thought. As he thought, his eyes weren't exactly on the road or the red light he was about to run.

The Wattersons were gathered in the living room. Anais with a book, Darwin on his phone, Nicole and Richard were watching the T.V. It was quiet without Gumball, awkwardly quiet. So when the phone rang, it was a welcome change of pace. Until it was answered that is…

"Uh…" Gumball groaned, he'd been in this position before, when he woke up at Carrie's house after her food rush, but this time, he could've sworn he used to be able to feel his right arms. "Aw, what happened," He said to no one.

"You were T-boned," Darwin's voice came and Gumball fully opened his eyes to a hospital bed. "The car's in bad shape but luckily, you were hit by one of the Elmore congressman with his mistress who doesn't want anyone to know about this, so the insurance has taken care of itself."

"Gee. That makes me feel so much better." Gumball sarcastically rolled his eyes. "What happened to my arm?"

"Oh it shattered like a glass plate, but that's the worst of it, you should live." Darwin chimed. "You've been out for the last three hours, I'll go tell the family you're awake."

"Alright…" When Darwin left, Gumball looked around the room, it wasn't Carrie's room, but it was comfy enough. Suddenly there was a flash of light and Carrie appeared. "Hey! Family only," Gumball pointed to the sign.

"What did you do?" She asked shaking her head.

"Oh you care now?"

"Stop it, you know damn well I care,"

"Not enough to tell me why we can't be together anymore." He grumbled.

"Gumball do you think I'm an idiot? Or that I don't love you? Because then you're stupider than I thought, just believe me that I thought this through and I'm sure I'd ruin your life."

"Do you love me enough to make that call for myself?" That set Carrie back, she began to contemplate his offer.

"I just know you'd do the noble thing and not what you want." She added still hesitantly looking around.

"What if they're the same?"

"But they're not!" She screamed.

"Prove it!"

"I'm pregnant!" And Gumball's eyes grew the size of basketballs.

"What?" He asked, not sure if he heard correctly.

"I'm pregnant," She said again tears running down her face.

"How do you know…? Ghosts don't have… Times of the month…"

"They don't have heart beat's either… and I have one, it's not coming from my chest either."

"This is the reason you won't talk to me? What did you expect me to do? Hate you for something we both consent to?" Gumball questioned.

"No… That's the problem… You'd want to raise it."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Yes! You're one of the smartest guys in our school and you could easily change the world if you wanted to, but you'd do something noble and stupid instead." She said burying her face in her hands.

"I don't want to change the world…"

"You don't get it, just like I knew you wouldn't, this child is my fault okay? I can deal with it,"

"Like hell you can,"

"Excuse me?"

"Carrie, you're planning on working as a waitress, ten hours a day, every day of the week, for a fraction for what I get paid for standing on a podium and talking."

"So?"

"So you have a dream, me, I haven't thought about what I want to do with my life for ten seconds, but you want to do something that will help a lot of people and to do that, you'd need an education, so hear me out. I keep doing that little gig at the bar, you work when you can, and we'll pay for the child together." Carrie was silent again, though it wasn't cold silence, she was simply running scenarios in his head. She opened and closed her mouth several times before any words were actually spoken.

"How much morphine did these people give you?" She said with the smile Gumball hadn't seen in a month.

"None! Can you believe it? These guys are armatures compared to you, where the hell is Darwin he went to get my family like twenty minutes ago…" They both turned to see all the Wattersons standing in the door way.

"You haven't been there long have you…?" Carrie asked.

"Gumball Tristopher Watterson!" His mother yelled enraged. "You got Carrie…" She didn't continue when she remembered Anais. Darwin had a shocked expression as he looked from Carrie to Gumball and back to Carrie.

"Heh… Uh… I got nothing…." Gumball said from his bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Damn this is a lot later than I initially intended... I don't think this whole 'upload chapters' is the thing for me... I think I'll just write the story and then publish it, that sounds a hell of a lot less stressful... Anyway here's this. Enjoy.**

**Also I still don't own Gumball**

"So that's it?"Marmalade asked.

"Oh god no… Not by a long shot, but as for your birth, yes, that's it."

"What did Dad's family do?"

"Freak out… Not nearly as bad as my family, but they were furious, I was disowned by my Grandfather, which in turn made my own Father disown me… Mom was there for me, I think I was the main reason for their divorce, so with me out of my house, naturally Gumball offered his, which his parents agreed to if he paid rent."

"What about Aunt Cierra?"

"She… She didn't care, I don't know where she finds all that love for me but, she went on like nothing had changed."

"Your story seems too good to be true," Marmalade cynically said.

"Doesn't it? It's not as if we didn't have our complications, they just never seemed to last long,"

"But… I remember waking up to you two fighting when I was little…" Marmalade reminded.

"Marmalade sweetie, if I've learned anything about being married it's that money is the number one cause to hate someone… And looking back on it, I was really fucking stupid."

"Mom!"

"Right, sorry, really goddamned stupid,"

"That's not any better…"

Then, without any warning, Gumball and Gumdrop burst through the door, looking tired and huffing their brains out. When they noticed Carrie and Marmalade on the couch they both stood up straight with the worst fake smiles one could imagine. "Hi Honey." Gumball said trying to not sound suspicious.

"What happened?" Carrie asked as if he'd come home like this every day. Then a loud pounding sound could be heard coming from the door.

"Well, we saw Uncle Darwin at the arcade…" Gumball said.

"And I said Dad could be him at air hockey." Gumdrop cut it.

"Long story short, some rules were bent, some things were said that nobody meant, and now Darwin wants to knock me out." Gumball finished placing his back against the door.

"Gumball! You get out here before I break down the door!" Darwin could be heard from outside.

"I'll handle this…" Carrie said and floated away.

"Darwin! Calm down!" Gumball called to his brother from inside.

"You called my real parents fish!" Darwin responded.

"They probably were!"

"That doesn't mean you can say that." Then Darwin began his pounding once again.

"Marmalade, help daddy and your brother keep Uncle Darwin out please." Gumball said to his daughter who was still on the sofa, looking mildly amused.

"Nah, I think you guys got this, I'm a ghost, I wouldn't be much help anyway." Carrie shortly returned, phone in hand and gestured for Gumball to move out of the way. As soon as he did so, the door flung open to an enraged adult Darwin.

"Hi Darwin," Carrie said calmly and handed the phone to him. Darwin blankly stared at it before putting it to his ear hole. (I assume that's what one would call it…)

"Hello?" He answered. "Penny! No, I was just… Uh, hanging out with Gumball, that's all I was heading home right now, except I left my car at the mall…"

"You ran the entire way here?" Carrie asked but Darwin didn't pay much mind to the question.

"Okay… I love you too." Then Darwin hung up the phone. "Can you guys give me a ride home?"

"What about your car?"

"I'll get it later or just buy another one, Penny wants me home now…" Gumball and Carrie laughed at what he said, "Inside joke?" Darwin guessed.

"Yeah… The first one is always the most difficult." Gumball mused. "Have you thought of a name yet?"

"No, I wanted Rutherford, but Penny said that kids would fun of that…"

"I like Rutherford," Carrie shrugged, "Alright, let's go, Kids? Do you want to go see Aunt Penny?" Gumdrop shook his head while his eyes were glued to a game screen and Marmalade shrugged a no. The three adults piled into the car with Carrie driving and set out for Darwin's house.

"Is 'house' the appropriate term for where you live?" Gumball asked.

"Of course it is, why wouldn't it be?"

"How many rooms do you have?"

"I lost count after thirty six…" Darwin grumbled seeing his point and Gumball smirked.

"How long is Penny along?" Carrie tried to change the subject.

"Oh… Eight months… I think… Eight comes after five right?"

"Uh… I'll just ask Penny when we see her…" she said as they pulled into Darwin's estate.

"Oh, I never asked you how Greece was." Gumball asked his brother.

"For the Olympics? I think it gets over hyped… We visited some ruins, but that's about it."

"Out of the car," Carrie ordered and they filed out and Darwin rang his own doorbell. The Darwin estate was, as of the past year, the largest house in all of Elmore, it looked to be four floors high and the size of a school. Complete with outdoor track, indoor gym and, of course, a pool. If there's one thing Darwin would never need, it'd be more cash, no one trusted him to manage his funds though, he hired Penny to assist in that manner and a relationship grew from there.

Penny answered the door with a pleasant smile and a stomach that clearly showed she was close to the end of her pregnancy, happy to see that Darwin was okay and hadn't harmed Gumball. "Hey guys," She greeted Gumball and Carrie. "You wanna come in?"

"We should get back to the kids… I don't trust Marmalade with Gumdrop anymore…" Carrie said.

"Epic flash back time!" Gumball cried out.

"Are sure this will get me to the moon?" Gumdrop asked from the firework he was strapped to.

"I'm ninety percent sure." Marmalade called not looking up from her book and sipping some iced tea. "Just make sure you hold your breath in space."

"Alright let's do this!" Gumdrop called and struck a match to light his firework.

"And that's why Gumdrop will always have slightly darker fur than me…" Gumball said back in real time.

"I understand, it must be hard having hungry kids." Penny nodded.

"What does that mean?" Carrie asked snidely.

"Just that kids won't grow up as well if you don't plan ahead or have the money to feed them." Penny shrugged not understanding her anger.

"Excuse me, I'll have you know Gumball and I work our asses off to make sure they're always fed."

"What, you think Darwin and I don't?"

"Well you sure as hell don't need to, at least my kids won't grow up spoiled." Carrie spat and that sent Penny over the edge.

"Oh, so just because we have money our kids will be spoiled, well at least we were smart enough to not get knocked up in High School miss high and noble." Gumball and Darwin watched their wives spit venom at each other with blank expressions as their eyes darted from Carrie to Penny and back again.

"We need popcorn…" Darwin absent mindedly remarked and Gumball nodded.

"I bet you just slept with Gumball so he wouldn't even think about being with any other woman," Penny hissed.

"At least I'm not a flirt who fucks with guys emotions, you… Peanut… Moose thing!"

"Well put Carrie," Gumball said from the sideline.

"Shut up Gumball," Penny cut in.

"Don't tell my husband to shut up!"

"Girls, this is incredibly pointless, let's just all have lunch and cool off in the pool," Darwin offered and received two death glares. "Or… Not,"

"You know what, Carrie and I really need to get home before Gumdrop sets the house on fire." Gumball said and began pulling Carrie out the door.

"Bye Carrie, I'll see you next week!" Penny called as if nothing had happened whatsoever, Darwin looked slightly concerned before waving by himself.

"See you then," Carrie answered in a similar tone before she flew into their car.

"Uh… What just happened?" Gumball took his seat next to her.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Penny were… And…" He began when he noticed the look she gave him. "You know what, never mind, just know that your relationship with Penny baffles me."

"Noted," Carrie said, not thinking much about it. Just then Carrie's phone rang and she quickly answered it.

"Mrs. Watterson?" Came the voice from the phone.

"Hey Kent," She answered casually, "What happened this time?"

"Well… I'm not sure how, but it seems your house has been infested with…. Ninja mice?"

"I trained them!" Gumdrop could be heard in the background of the call.

"We'll be home shortly…" She hung up the phone and handed Gumball a dollar. "You set me up…"

"Maybe, but all that matters is I won the bet." He mused. "You also owe me a dance,"

"I'm never betting with you again…"

"That's what you said last time," Gumball continued with a victorious grin.

"What was last time? College?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah after you… Uh… Never mind…"

"After I…?"

"You don't remember?" He asked nearly astonished.

"I've been retelling our junior year of high school all day, I'm pretty sure my memory died awhile ago." She shrugged.

"Well… It wasn't that important,"

"Gumball you're the worst liar on the planet, what the hell are you talking about?"

"College, your last year before you got your doctorate? It couldn't have been that long ago…"

"Enlighten me." She said from behind the wheel. "And if you ripple effect I'm pulling over right now."

"Fine…"

Carrie opened her eyes to a rainy day, she lazily looked over to her clock, it read 3:30. "Damnit…" She grumbled and forced herself up. There were worse fates than a class that started at four in the morning, but Carrie couldn't think of them at the moment. She whisked herself to the shower only to find it in use. "Maileen!" Carrie whined. "What the hell are you doing, your first class doesn't start until five!"

"Oh… Ross wanted to hang out, and I wanted to smell nice…"

"You're a goddamned Dingo, doesn't water make you smell worse? Wet dog smell isn't exactly in high demand at the perform department." Suddenly the water stopped and Carrie's roommate timidly stepped out of the shower. Maileen was slim, popular, and yet incredibly smart. Everything Carrie despised about preppy girls summed up into the most intelligent person she'd known.

"You think he won't like me like this?" Maileen asked and shook herself dry.

"I'm sure he'll think your fine." Carrie answered calming herself down, currently she could care less what her roommate was doing. "I have cellular biology in thirty minutes, I don't give a shit what Ross thinks you smell like."

"Oh… Right, sorry, showers all yours." Maileen said and scooted around Carrie.

Carrie sat in Cellular biology practically writing down anything the professor said, which was easy enough since he was an enormous snail and talked slower than he moved. Every so often she'd read back through to make sure it all make sense before continuing once again in her notes. "And that concludes today's lecture." The snail said slowly. "If there are any questions, please see me now." Carrie read once more and packed her books into a bag before someone placed a hand on hers to stop it. She looked up from her bag to see a boy with a skeleton head but a complete body from the neck down in a collared shirt and jeans.

"Hey Sean," She smiled.

"Hey babe, we still good for tonight?" The skeleton smirked.

"Yes, for the thousandth time, but you haven't told me what we're doing tonight."

"That's why it's a surprise."

"I hate you…"

"I know. Alright, I'll find you when we're out for the day." Sean grinned and hopped off her desk. Carrie watched him go the smile still playing at her lips and she reached back inside her bag and brought out a picture of the six month old Marmalade. She was so pleasant with her large orange ribbon and pacifier and sighed with a slight amount of regret.

That evening, her classes were finished and Carrie was prepping herself for her date. She stared into the mirror, considering past events and looking at herself covered in makeup and fancy clothing, her hair no longer covered her eye but was instead pulled back into a bum. Sean was a sweetheart, he wasn't the most studious but he loved her, what more could she ask for.

"Aw, you look adorable!" Maileen came in looking like a powdered cup cake thrown on to a dog. "Sean will love it, do I look alright?

"You look fine, are our boys waiting down stairs?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah, Ross is driving, so you and Sean can have the backseat, just don't do anything you'll regret."

"Yeah…" Carrie said looking saddened. "I won't." The two girls made their way down their dorms until they found the parking lot. There stood Sean and Ross, waiting by a fine car that could seat four comfortably.

"Hey girls," Ross said, who appeared to be some kind of green tiger, "Ready?" he asked.

"Will you please tell me where we're going?" Carrie begged her boyfriend.

"Nope," Sean said with his boney grin, "Ross my man, let's roll." And they all climbed in with only the occasional moment of awkwardness climbing over one another. They drove around amiably; Carrie began to wonder if they actually had a plan as to where they were going. Until Ross parked the car across from a live theatre and every filed out once again. Carrie looked at the sign plastered across the theatre, 'Gumball: It's not my problem, comedy tour.' It read and she wanted to die, more so than she already was.

"So, what do you think?" Sean asked and Carrie gave a nervous smile.

"Could we, do something else? I'm not in the mood to laugh right now."

"Nah, this guy's hilarious, plus I spent a lot of money on this, so we're doing this." Carrie wanted to dispute, but past experiences reminded her that it wasn't worth it. "You'll love him, I know it." Sean reassured. The four found their table and sat down. The stage was lifeless and empty at the moment, crews were still scrambling to make everything ready when the waitress came for their order. Carrie could tell she was nervous, it reminded her of when she worked as a waitress after school with Gumball performing.

"Yeah, what beers do you have?" Ross asked her.

"Ross, don't get smashed today." Maileen whispered to him but he paid her no mind.

"I'll have whatever he's having," Sean agreed with Ross and Carrie simply sighed in discontent. Suddenly the room went dark and lights started to flash.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we here at the Mumble Bros. Theatre are proud to welcome to the stage, Gumball Watterson!" An enormous voice came as smoke covered the stage and Gumball stepped through it to the sound of a roaring applause.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you…. Thank you, thank you." Gumball said, "Huh… Hello peoples, I am so pleased to be here, I had a flight from Elmore, best part about any flight is the crying baby, every flight has one and this flight, and I had the high honor of being the father of said kid. It's awful you start reading the magazine in front of you, not giving a shit what's in it, 'oh hey Danielle Fox bought a blender, that's interesting thank god there's no crying baby next to me so that I can pay attention to this amazing piece of literature." The crowd laughed and he continued on his hour and a half show. He talked about everything and anything, there was some point where a drunken freshman called him out on a joke but Gumball's wit was a bit much for him.

After the show Sean and Ross were both drunk off their asses and Carrie slipped away to exit before anyone recognized her. "Carrie!" She froze and slightly turned only to see Maileen and she released the breath she had sucked in. "I found this little girl, she is the cutest thing ever, you have to see her and the V.I.P guard is awesome."

"I think we should just go home before we—" But Maileen had already began dragging Carrie by her hand until they reached a V.I.P section and she tapped on it. The door shortly opened by a four year old Marmalade who simply grew exuberant at the sight of Carrie.

"Mommy! You came back for me!" She cried and wrapped herself around Carrie's tail.

"Carrie?" Maileen questioned.

"I guess I look like her mother," Carrie struggled trying to pull Marmalade off her.

"Actually, you're the spitting imagine of her mother." A voice came from behind her, but she didn't need to turn to see who it was.

"Mr. Watterson!" Maileen cried out. "Oh you were so funny."

"Thank you," Gumball humbly answered and knelt down to Marmalade. "Princess, we have to go now, okay? Let go of Mommy." He tried to pull her off.

"No! She just came back for me, I'll never let her go again!" She cried out and refused to release Carrie.

"Marmalade." Gumball snapped, "Come here now, Mommy can't stay."

"But why!" She pleaded but Gumball didn't have an answer for that and he just looked down and away from Carrie. "Tell him Mommy, tell him you're coming home now!"

"I'm not coming home dear, " Carrie patted her on the head. "Not now, or ever."

"Why!" The little ghost cried almost to the point of tears. "Daddy never smiles anymore!"

"He's smiling right now," Carrie reasoned.

"Not like he did when you were around!" Marmalade burst into tears and Carrie looked back at Gumball who still refused to look at her. "At least talk to her, Dad!" She cried at Gumball.

"I don't know what to say…" He muttered ti himself, "Rick," Gumball called to one of his staff. "Take Marmalade to the car," And the man nodded and took Marmalade off of Carrie.

"No! Mommy, why don't you call anymore?" She called through her tears. Maileen witnessed the scene and felt incredibly out of place.

"I'll just… Go." She said and rushed out of the room leaving Carrie and Gumball alone.

"Sorry, Marmalade misses you…" Gumball shook his head and turned to exit himself.

"I'm sorry too," Carrie said. "But we talked about—"

"Yes, I know, this is what's best for everyone…" Gumball recited her words. "Except for everyone involved,"

"Aren't you happy? You're emails seem to say so."Carrie accused with agitation in her voice.

"Yeah, because I didn't want you to feel guilty over taking a little girl's mother away from her," Gumball said coldly.

"You paid for me to come here," Carrie reminded him.

"And you broke up with me for it, that wasn't exactly the thank you I was looking for"

"I'm two thousand miles away; did you really think we could work out?"

"I don't know I never got the chance to try!" He snapped at her. "You always think you know the best way to solve something is to just end it before the pain comes, well that worked out swimmingly for us, didn't it?"

"This is the best way!" Carrie hissed back.

"For who? Me? I'm fucking miserable, Marmalade? She cries herself to sleep without her Mom. You? Don't tell you're happy with that drunken freak show my security just kicked out."

"Don't insult him, it's beneath you."

"But breaking my heart isn't beneath you? This is the same shit you pulled when you were pregnant but if you had just talked to me about it, none of this would have happened."

"Sorry…" She said lowly.

"Sorry doesn't do shit for me or Marmalade." Carrie could hear the anger soaking every word he spoke, he had been hurt, and it was her fault.

"What should I say? That I was wrong? That I've never been more wrong in my life to leave you?"

"It couldn't hurt." Gumball let his shoulder drop. "This is the second time you've done this, I don't want to forgive you, but Marmalade needs you, more than anyone else, so if she can then I can, but not until she has her mom back."

"I can't do that…" Carrie said. "I can't come back when I'm so close, I could be set for life if I pass this last year."

"Fine, go become a rich fucking doctor, have all the success in all the world for all I care."

"How can you say that? You, who supported me even when I was hated by everyone else I knew, you always pushed me to pursue my dreams."

"Yeah, but surprisingly enough, I had always imagined that I'd be part of your life, I thought maybe I'd be part of your dreams, because you were my only dream." Gumball shook his head and went to exit again until Carrie caught hold of his arm and he turned to face her. He was then met with one of Carrie's incredibly tight hugs one he hadn't felt in years. He didn't want to love it, he wanted to stay mad at her for leaving his side again, but she'd always be his first love, the only woman he really loved.

"I hate it here…" Carrie said into his shoulder. "I hate these people, I hate the classes, I hate it all… I miss you Gumball, I miss you and Marmalade and your bad jokes, your complete disregard for safety when cooking, your positive attitude towards everything, and on the flip side of that the witty sarcasm you reserve for idiots in your life. I wanna be part of your dreams again; you've been haunting mine…" Gumball stood with a contemplative expression for a moment or two before shrugging.

"Marmalade forgives you first, than me."

"Deal," She said with tears of joy welling up and kissed Gumball on the lips. He hadn't felt her ghostly lips in so long and offered no resistance when he felt them again. They broke apart to look at each other again.

"I swear I'll never forgive you if you leave me or your daughter again." Gumball threatened.

"I'd never forgive me either." She said wrapping herself in his arms and nestling into him.

"Come on then, Marmalade has a present for you."

"You were expecting me?" She asked astonished.

"Of course, she only talks about the day she finds you everyday."

"She shouldn't have… I don't deserve it…"

"No, but Marmalade inherited my amazing ability of forgiveness."

"What about my studies?"

"Well, Teri's mom just retired from Elmore Hospital, and they're looking for anyone who knows anything to take her place, given that Teri is in India and there's no one readily available, I think you could land a steady job."

"I feel as if you've been planning this for some time."

"Not openly… But you were always at the edge of my mind, I tried dating again, which was horrible… The few that I could barely tolerate Marmalade refused to even look at, so I guess I'm stuck with you." He smiled

"Yeah… I don't think dating is for me… I've learned I have a very low tolerance for people…"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"CARRIE!" Sean drunkenly slurred from the doorway. By definition due to a lack of blood, skeletons couldn't get drunk, but that didn't seem to stop him.

"Friend of yours?" Gumball guessed.

"Uh… Maybe?"

"Hey! You're that Gumball guy right?" Sean said wobbling over. "You were, so fucking funny man, you should be a comedian or something," He placed his arm around Gumball for support. "Hey, Carrie, where did you come from?"

"Gumball this is Sean… My uh… Good friend." Carrie attempted to remain calm.

"Like hell!" Sean answered her. "Don't listen to her, she's crazy or something, I'm her boyfriend."

"Is that so?" Gumball hissed looking to Carrie.

"Yeah, but she won't sleep with me? Can you believe it, we've been dating for like… Six weeks! But every time I ask, she's like, 'no I'm too tired' I mean, what girlfriend doesn't sleep with her boyfriend it's like we're in the nineties or something I swear."

"Sean… I think you should go…" Carrie said, her face practically painted red with embarrassment.

"Why? This guy seems alright, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Bubble gum."

"Gumball,"

"Whatever, you should tell Carrie to have sex with me since I bought her these tickets." Gumball looked back to Carrie, Sean still invading his personal space. "I mean, why else do you date chicks am I right? Come on Carrie let's get the hell out of here." Carrie looked scared and unmoving, she scooted slightly closer to Gumball out of fear. "Carrie come on, or else." Sean said again.

"Or else what?" Gumball asked practically boiling with rage at the sound of his words.

"The fuck you care? She just needs to be reminded of reality from time to time, why is this so important to you?"

"I happen to love her." Gumball snarled. "If you've hurt her in anyway—" He began when Sean sent his fist into Gumball's face, Carrie covered her mouth with her hands.

"What? Like that? Are you going to do anything about?" Sean threatened and stood over Gumball.

"Don't touch him!" Carrie screamed at Sean and that seemed to back him up. "Gumball are you okay?" She asked as he opened one eye.

"Ow… It's as if he's all bone or something…" And Carrie gave small laugh. "Are you going to kick his ass?" He asked her.

"Damn right I will,"

"I'll bet you dollar it'll take four hits."

Marmalade sat in the car next to Rick, he was her body guard, waiting for her Dad to come back from talking with Mom, playing with the small box her dad had her hold. She often wondered what was in it, but Dad said it was a super secret for mom only and if super secrets couldn't be kept, what hope would there be for the future. The car was luxurious, long, not quite a limo but it seated five in the back alone so it was nice enough. Suddenly Rick looked up from his phone and exited the car. Through the tinted windows, Marmalade could see Rick approach two people, one slung over the other, heading for the car. She flew out through the door to see her Dad and Mom, holding each other like they used to and laughing their heads off.

"I think the head butt did count, I said four hits, not four punches." Gumball reasoned.

"No, no, there was three punches then the knock out, so with the head but, that'd be four."

"Right, but you hit him once before that," Carrie sighed in defeat.

"Why do I make bets with you? I never win, even when I do"

"It may behoove you to never make a bet with me again."

"Noted," Carrie said and turned her head to Marmalade.

"Mommy!" She squealed and flew right into her mother's arms. Carrie was overjoyed to embrace her, it felt like an eternity since last she held her daughter. "What's wrong with your face?" Marmalade asked and Carrie grew confused.

"The makeup…" Gumball whispered.

"Ah… Marmalade, listen very closely, you must never change yourself for someone else, okay?" She said and smiled at Gumball. "It will be the worst experience of your life."

"Oh! Daddy bought this for you." Marmalade remembered the small box and offered it to her mother.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, Daddy said it was a super secret."

"Really?" She asked back to Gumball.

"It's like a secret times a billion." Gumball asserted firmly. "Or so our daughter has decreed." Carrie opened the small box with complete shock covering her face upon discovering the ring inside.

"You can't be serious," She said disbelieving.

"Why not?" Gumball asked plainly. "Marmalade needs her mother, and I know I can't live without you."

"Jesus, "Carrie said on the verge of crying again. "Do you ever stay mad?"

"Not at you, some people say that's bad."

"Those people don't know you!" Marmalade said from her mother's arms.

"So…? Do I get an answer?" Gumball asked and Carrie let go of Marmalade.

"No, I'm just going to let you wonder." She said with a devious smile.

"You can't be-" Carrie shut him up by bringing their lips together.

"Yay! I get my Mommy back!" Marmalade cheered as their kiss ended.

"You seriously don't remember any of that? I thought it was kind of a significant date to remember." Gumball said as Carrie pulled the car into their driveway and she wore a smug grin. "I believe I have been played by my wife…"

"You got my dollar, we'll call it even." They exited the car and Carrie made her way to the door until Gumball took hold of her arm. She turned to him and he pulled her into his arms.

"We've had a ridiculous life…" Gumball mused as he leaned on the car and Carrie relaxed into him.

"Yeah, too bad most of it is over." Carrie agreed.

"Would you change anything?" He asked and she faced him again.

"You mean besides being an idiot who tried to leave you twice?"

"Well, even that, I feel like we needed those to get where we are, I don't think I'd change anything, as long as we have the same result, I could care less how I get married to you."

"I'll keep that in mind next time a cute guy winks at me." She wore her evil grin.

"If I get a heart attack from one of your jokes you have to promise to save me,"

"I'll always save you, you already saved me." Carrie said more caringly than her previous tone.

"I love you Carrie" He said and they brushed their lips across one another.

"I love you too." She said before they entered a passionate kiss.

"Gross!" Gumdrop's voice came from next to a fireman, and his parents broke away from each other. "You guys can't kiss, you're old!"

"Well… Not in front of him anyway, but I know this lovely bed room that we have." Gumball whispered.

"Tonight, nine o'clock, lock the door and don't be late." Carrie answered quietly with her seductive grin.

**You may have noticed that nifty part 1 in the title, so naturally this is story will come back, but not now, I have other ideas and couples to explore. Thank you for reading this and all that jazz, especially those of you who reviewed, first stories are terrifying, for me at least. **


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